One very confused Hermione
by hpdork22
Summary: Hermione Granger is confused. Hermione has a brother who goes to Hogwarts. Hermione Granger...isn't Hermione Granger? Hermione kicks butt. Crazy things will hopefully happen to Hermione. Cautionary M for mild language for now, HGDM.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** After recovery from a rather unfortunate bout of delusion, I have come to realize that sadly, I am not J.K. Rowling and I do not own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 1**

Hermione Granger had a lot of hair.

Taming said hair was a problem for Hermione Granger. No matter what she tried, her head generally looked like a large frizzy puffball trying to eat her face. Fortunately for her, the color was not a total loss. In fact, her chocolate brown hair had a cool tone too it. The absence of golden tones brought attention to her creamy complexion and the freckles dotting the bridge of her nose. She looked in the mirror, paying close attention to her face. Her aforementioned complexion remained unblemished, and had thankfully been that way through all six of her previous years of schooling at the Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her nose was elegant, but didn't point upwards in a fashion that had made so many others look snobby. Her eyes were large and reminiscent of a doe, big and brown. Her full lips were lightly pigmented, and overall, Hermione's look was a classic one. The hair, however, was anything but. Today, Hermione had chosen to let it down in all of its fuzzy glory. Wearing her typical charcoal skirt, white oxford, and scarlet and gold striped tie, Hermione strode through the brick wall at between platforms 9 and 10 with confidence, pushing a cart that held two trunks and a cat that looked remarkably like a pug.

The atmosphere at Platform 9 ¾ was busy, very busy. Parents of first years were bustling about, waving and crying as they watched their little precious board the train for the first time ever, lamenting the loss of their firstborns and acting like they would never see little Tommy-wommy or Katiekins again. Second year parents were waving goodbye to their kidlets, begging them to write and giving them messages of love, whereas the parents of anyone third year and up might as well have been wearing a sign that said "I am so over this shit."

Hermione looked around, heading right pushing her cart until she felt a rough jerk and felt herself losing control of the cart as Crookshanks, the cat who as I already mentioned, resembled a pug, began to slide off of Hermione's trunk. Restoring balance to the creaky cart, she ducked around to the side and put the screeching cat back where she belonged. Looking for the culprit, Hermione cringed when she heard the familiar drawl.

"Watch it mudblood," spat the platinum haired boy. His gray eyes didn't sparkle, their ice made them appear almost matte. His gaze was sharp, piercing, but his face had softened. His features were not quite as angular and sharp as they used to be, and his jaw was wider, more masculine. The one thing that could not be argued, however, was that he still bore the undeniable resemblance to a ferret. Hermione paled at the sound she had come to dread, the sound of her arch-nemesis, the Joker to her Batman, the Harvard to her Yale, the peanut, to her peanut allergy. Her color returned as she snickered, realizing that muggle-phobic Malfoy couldn't understand any of the comparisons she made if he tried. "Try not to infect me if you can, I'd like to start this year disease-free and keep it that way if you please." He smirked in satisfaction as he watched Hermione ever so slightly flinch. The insult wasn't even particularly witty, she was just furious that he thought he had the right to belittle someone based on blood. With an angry glance and an arrggghh, Hermione did an about-face and stormed off, pushing her trunks and her cat trying to make as best a furious exit as she possibly could. Her exit was undeniably ruined, however, when she tripped trying to avoid, quite ironically, a toad and lost a loafer in the process. Malfoy began to laugh with his cronies, the thickheaded Crabbe, the awkwardly skinny Goyle, and the obnoxiously self-centered Blaise. Hermione gave another angry noise, this time a hrrmpph instead of an arrgghh, and walked off as if her blood was boiling.

As soon as Hermione was out of sight, Draco turned around and cradled his foot, his toe in undeniable pain. "Bloody whore," he muttered. "Watch your language mate," reminded Blaise in a singsong voice.

"Shut it Zabini," retorted Draco. He was angry, but not because his toe hurt-a lot, but because he actually _liked_ watching Granger leave. She had grown up over the summer; there was no doubt about that. Her figure was more defined, but she wasn't sickeningly skinny. Either Granger had shortened her skirt by a few inches, something very _not _Granger-like, or she had grown 3 inches, a more likely explanation. All the better to see her legs, thought Draco. Hold up_—_Granger wasn't _attractive. _Why was he thinking of her like this. He shuddered, deciding that yes, he just might be sick. Some 2 minute bug, a virus, temporary insanity, those were all perfectly good explanations. Happy with his newfound rationalizations Draco skipped, eh hem, walked, looking quite macho if he did say so himself, to class, his black robes billowing out behind him.

Hermione then proceeded, as quickly and carefully as possible in order to avoid further embarrassment, to the baggage compartment, dropping of her trunks. Next she took Crookshanks' cage and placed it with the other cats in the cat compartment, handing her beloved pet off to a sneezing, sniffling, man who was hilariously allergic to the very animals that had been charged to his care. She ran to the nearest door, and with a hop, Hermione was on the train heading towards her last year at home.

Without a doubt, Hogwarts was Hermione's home. "Why not with her parents?" You may ask. Well, to put it simply, Hermione expected it would be quite difficult to call two coffins six feet under, 'home.'

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AN: Sorry for the short chapter, just wanted to get a bit of an introduction going. This is my dreamfic as it were, how I've always wanted other fics to go. I will try to break my 5-chapter curse, I promise.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 2**

Draco had had better summers. In fact, Draco argued that this was his worst summer yet. Everyone's parents have a list of things they want you to do, to accomplish. Everyone else's parents wanted them to do normal things. They wanted their children to go to university, learn how to handle their money, help the elderly. Draco's parents wanted him to be a death eater. Well, his father anyway. The very words repulsed him. Death _eater_. How in heaven's sake could you _eat_ death? Arguably, if you ate death you would be dead. Now if you were say, a death waiter, or waitress, you could serve death. You would sound hilariously ridiculous and everyone would expect you to wear some sort of stupid tuxedo and a towel around your arm but at least it made sense. I mean come on, death _eater_? It took all his energy to stop himself from going up to his father, or Voldemort, and screaming, "What were you _ON_?!" I mean there are thousands of better things, death soldier, death dragon (OK maybe not that one), death fighter. Well, come to think of it, they all sounds silly…but back to the subject. Draco's father's biggest wish in the world, was that his son would follow in his death-eating footsteps with a giant murderous fork and spoon. Draco's mother, on the other hand, she was the good parent. She didn't baby Draco, but it was obvious she loved him. She'd by lying if she hadn't thought about running away, after all Lucius, no matter what ridiculous names he decided to call himself, was still a monster. He was still an arrogant bastard with a violent temper, a bad choice on Lucius' part because if your wife hates you, do you really think she's going to be rooting for you in the final battle? Not so much. But she stayed, for Draco. She decided, however, that if she was going to stay then she was going to fight, for the right, to party…with the order of the phoenix. Draco didn't know though. Narcissa knew that he would be OK. Besides, when you take looks out of the equation he wasn't really anything like his father. Well, he wasn't to keen on the muggleborns, but Narcissa had a feeling that that would go away with time, particularly in his seventh year. But for the present, that bit of dislike gave Draco protection from his father, but now he was old enough to protect himself, to make his own decisions. Yes, Narcissa knew that her son would change soon enough. At least she hoped it would. And as for Lucius, when it came to doing anything other than attacking unsuspecting muggles, squibs, or mudbloods, he was about as bright as a 2-watt light bulb.

Hermione walked quickly down the corridor, trying to get to her friends as fast as possible. It had been too long. With everything that had happened over the summer, she just wanted to be back. Back with her friends, back at school, back to distraction. She needed a distraction, and she needed it bad. Her summer was a long one. Actually, the first two months went by like that. She loved meeting seeing friends from her old school, she loved walking around her neighborhood, she loved going to the park, she loved swimming, she loved shopping, summer was great. Except for the day her parents were taken from her. That—was not a good day. In fact, it was no doubt the single most awful, terrible day of Hermione's life. You could say it changed her, because it did—a lot. It was like she was scared of her own shadow sometimes. When an entire force of dark wizards kills your parents, it can be daunting. She remembered that night, up in her room talking with her friends via instant messenger, having just completed her online order for the most beautiful cobalt heels you ever did see. All of a sudden everything went quiet. She looked out her open window and couldn't hear a thing. No crickets, no sirens, no cars whizzing by, not her neighbor's yapping dog or the terrible 12 year old across the street who for some reason couldn't fathom that at night you turn your music down. All she heard was silence, dead silence. The second she saw a shadowy figure on the sidewalk, she searched hopelessly for her wand. It was no use. She ran downstairs, determined to do anything to save her parents, who were watching a televised dental conference downstairs. With a whoosh she was surrounded by dark figures, her eyes searching frantically for any sight of her parents, until she noticed, in a heap, two lifeless figures on the ground. After seeing a flash of the familiar brown hair she screamed. She felt powerless and powerful at the same time. She felt the anger gather, she felt the rage boiling. How dare these…these…they didn't even deserved to be named, these evil, vile, loathsome excuses for wizards, come and kill her parents. How _dare_ they? Not knowing what to do, she aimlessly raised her hand and all of a sudden, with a great blast of white light, 20 death eaters went sprawling back into the walls of her house and fled as fast as their apparition could carry them. A jet of green light was sent past her, missing her by such a miniscule fraction of an inch that to the untrained eye Hermione was as good as dead. Out of pure exhaustion, she crumpled to the ground. With a satisfied smirk and a swoosh of platinum, the last robed figure turned triumphantly on his heel and with a familiar whoosh was gone.

Two days later Hermione awoke, exhausted, in a sea of white sheets. Thrashing, still trying to protect her parents from their attackers, she stopped long enough to hear the rustling of robes and see so many familiar faces. Standing over her was the order of the phoenix, those Hermione knew at least. She saw Tonks, Lupin, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, they were all there. Well, all of the adults anyway. They started at Hermione with sorrow in their eyes as she calmed, a single tear rushing down her cheek as she realized they were gone. Standing by her bedside was the only family she had left. It was quite a big family indeed, but no one could replace her parents. Feeling more drained than she had before, she fell into a deep slumber, the only chance she had of escaping reality.

AN: Argh I did not like writing this. Sorry it's short again, I guess I'm also doomed to the curse of short chapters. Thanks to all those who've added me to your story alert and to your favorite stories and author alert and the like!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Darnit, I still don't own Harry Potter.

AN: Sorry I haven't updated, been very busy with school!

**Chapter 3**

Hermione meandered around the train, searching for the compartment that contained her two best friends. Being a 7th year, she knew where she was going and wasn't in any particular rush, her only goal being to spend enough time with her friends before she was called away to her head duties. Yes, her head duties, for what would 7th year be if Hermione Granger wasn't head girl? If you looked up Hogwarts head girl in the dictionary, you would find a picture of two boys…standing next to a beaming Hermione Granger. Hermione, who had been ecstatic when she received her letter, which arrived just two days before _that_ day, made sure that the badge rested just so on her robes. The familiar maroon and gold crest she had come to love (because it was difficult at first, I mean it isn't exactly the most…subtle of combinations) had the extra embroidery indicating that Hermione Granger was indeed, the head girl. This very badge could be found on all 7 sets of Hermione's robes, one for each day of course. She wasn't too concerned about who would fill the role of head boy. While Ron was long shot, Harry's natural leadership skills made him a shoe-in. It might be a little hard with all he had on his plate, which was quite an impressive list, but Harry could manage. I mean what kind of 17-year-old boy can't manage being the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the boyfriend of Ginny Weasley, and the savior of the wizarding world? If anyone could do it, it was most definitely Harry.

Continuing her leisurely walk down the corridor of the train's second car, Hermione spotted a mess of black hair and the shocking red that sat across from it. She burst into the door, grinning widely at the familiar sight of two of her best friends. However, it as not the two she had expected. Her grin faded as she noticed Harry and Ginny gazing lovingly into each other's eyes an she almost threw up in her mouth a little bit. Sure she loved them, and it wasn't like she was jealous of Ginny and wanted Harry all to herself. But she was jealous _of_ them, their cuteness, their couple-osity. It drove her insane. It was like the time she found them making out in the library. _Her_ library. Disgracing and defiling the books with their mere presence. The library was most definitely not for a renez-vous with your boyfriend, it was a place of learning, a place of education, and if not those than at least a place where you can go and not feel bad about your lack of said boyfriend. Hermione gave a slight cough, attempting to inform her semi-conscious friends of her presence. With a 'wha?' and a 'huh?' Harry and Ginny were snapped out of their daze and had turned their eyes to Hermione. They blushed, but pretended as if nothing had happened. Hermione, who was glad that her friends had finally recognized her presents and had stopped making her sick, sat down next to Ginny.

"So Harry, Ginny, how was your summer?" Hermione blurted out, trying to avoid the awkwardness that hung over their heads in the small compartment.

"Good I guess," said Harry. "Other than some order stuff and researching some of that you know what stuff that you know who had left us, it was fairly uneventful." Hermione than gave a sharp gasp and bent over to cradle his side, the result of a swift elbow by none other than Ginny. This violent technique than elicited a response from Harry, who quickly blurted out, "GinnyandIgotbacktogether!" with a large smile on his face. Ginny, who was smirking at her ability to control one of their age's most powerful wizards, was satisfied with this reaction and continued to smile brightly. With that, Hermione began to make sounds that appeared to resemble something halfway between a cough and a laugh. Harry could have sworn he heard her say 'whipped'.

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Malfoy was sitting in a compartment with Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson, wearing a facial expression that indicated his disgust and was disturbingly similar to Hermione's. He had already abandoned Crabbe and Goyle, keeping them around only for show. Their lack of brains had meant that the mark familiar to nearly the entire Slytherin house was already permanently etched onto their arms. Instead, Malfoy chose to hang out with the few seventh year members of the Slytherin house that shared in his negative views of fatality munchers.

Blaise, like his parents, had never really agreed with the whole dark lord business anyways. Instead, he was quite studious. He was third in his class, and had the potential to be second, but instead hung back to let Draco take the honor, because of course, there was no chance that Granger was going to step aside. But Draco needed his position, if only to keep him safe from his father's wrath. But Blaise had tremendous intelligence, and was extremely hard working for someone whose family had nearly four full vaults at Gringotts. He had been taught the value of money, and even though that now he was 17 he was a good deal more liberal with his funds than he had been in previous years, he never took it for granted. He was tan, and his hair, that was similar to Harry's in it's inevitable messy appearance and black color, made his blue eyes stand out even more. Not quite the ice blue of his best friend's, but a more warmer blue, with only a hint of green. The eyes were a Zabini family trait. The Zabini gene pool was Olympic-sized, resulting in relatives that barely looked akin to one another. The blue eyes, however, were a dominant gene and the evidence of an ancient wizarding bloodline that had managed to merge with their own and all but died out, with the exception of the Zabini family. Every Zabini related by flood was blessed and cursed with the shocking blue irises. On the one hand, it was a beautiful color that made the family unique, but on the other, it was nearly impossible for a Zabini to convince someone that no, they weren't wearing colored contacts.

Pansy was a changed girl. The death of her mother, at the hands of her father no less, had made a significant impact on her life. She abandoned her old ways, okay most of her old ways, the Slytherin cunning was still there, and changed her life. After her mother's murder, she fled her house, running to one of the only death eater free locales she knew of. Where you might ask? Why Zabini manor of course. Zabini manor, where boy met girl (again), one thing most definitely led to another, and Blaise and Pansy lived happily ever after. Their personalities went well together. It goes without saying that they had their fights and clashes, it's not like they thought the same way about everything. But Blaise had been smitten with the changed Pansy, The very same Pansy whose dark brown hair was sleek and shiny. Her bangs were full and blunt, ending just above her eyebrows. The cut of her hair echoed her fringe, and the blunt bob came down to a few inches past her shoulders. Her face, like Draco's, had also changed. It was as if one day Pansy had gone to sleep a pug and woke up a human being. Pansy had also begun to steer clear of her skanalicious ways, instead opting for a more conservative look. Her skirt actually covered what it was supposed to and rested at its proper length 2 inches above her knees, much to Blaise's dismay. Her clothes were looser and her necklines were higher, but even with these changes Pansy's figure was till easily distinguishable between the uniform that was completed with her emerald and silver tie. One of the most noticeable differences, however, was that she now used significantly fewer facial muscles, opting for a grin more often than a frown.

Draco was still nauseous. Pansy and Blaise had begun to…_cuddle_. With a shudder and an 'eww' Draco looked away from the monstrosity and turned his gaze to the window. He watched the rolling Green hills of Northern Scotland pass by and had decided that now was probably the ideal time to seek out the rest of the prefects and begin his duties as head boy. Yes, head boy. Dumbledore, knowing of Draco's mother and her change in position, had decided that if Draco was going to get along with Gryffindors and eventually, hopefully, fight for the light alongside the Order of the Phoenix, now was as good a time as any to start. Fueling Draco's appointment to the highest student position one could obtain was the fact that he was best suited for the job. His grades where dead on with those of the typical head boy, and while his leadership skills had not been necessary due to Draco's newly found distance from his old lifestyle, they were still very much there. Draco got up, and while he was slightly annoyed that his departure remained unnoticed by two of the school's most sickening lovebirds, began the somber walk to his doom. Doom indeed, for Draco knew that there wasn't a chance in hell that the head girl wouldn't be Granger.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 4**

The rest of Hermione's time in the compartment with her friends was for the most part uneventful. Ron, Harry, and Ginny had recalled numerous events during that summer at the burrow. Ron, she had learned, had snuck to an empty compartment with Lavender Brown and would be back before they disembarked. Hermione shuddered and tried her best to prevent any images from coming into her head. There was a time when she would have wished she was Lavender Brown, but that was also the time when Hermione found his lack of manners, gluttony, and absence of any direction in his life charming.

"And that's how Ron ended up eating a muggle feletone in an alleyway!" giggled Ginny.

"For God's sakes it's _telephone_," thought Hermione, but instead she chose to avoid conflict and gave a fake chuckle. She was a bit bitter about not being invited, but she knew that Ron and the rest of the Weasley's probably thought she wanted to spend time with her parents. Her bitterness was completely eclipsed by both the sorrow she felt at their loss and the joy she felt knowing that this decision had allowed her to spend her parents' last month with them. Having caught up with her friends, Hermione decided that this was the best time to take her leave and report to the head's compartment to begin her duties as head girl.

She was disappointed as she walked out, knowing that their lack of action had indicated neither Harry nor Ron was head boy. "Maybe it's a hufflepuff, or a ravenclaw," she thought. "Yes, Professor McGonagall matched me with a ravenclaw I'm sure, after all we'd get along famously." Hermione skipped off under a sense of false security, well aware of the sinking feeling in her stomach that confirmed that this year's head boy would most certainly _not_ be a ravenclaw.

Hermione made her way to the compartment, which was a notch above the rest. The plush red seats sparkled as if they had just been replaced, and the gilded silver curtains sparkled in the sunlight. Temporarily cheered by the absence of green, Hermione took a seat and waited for the head boy and prefects to arrive.

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Draco continued on through the train, enjoying his last few moments of happiness and a mostly Granger-free life. Subconsciously, it wasn't much of a shift, because all Draco had been thinking of since he boarded the train was the way Hermione looked in her Hogwarts uniform. He glanced down at the green and silver patch on his chest. The serpent, shown in all it's glory, was emblazoned directly above the metallic emerald writing that indicated Draco's head boy position. This very patch could be seen on all 28 sets of Draco's robes. He couldn't be bothered to have his laundry done more than once every 4 weeks, so why wear your robes more than once if it's just as easy to buy more?

Finally, Draco arrived at the compartment as his worst fears were realized. There, sitting silently was the one and only Hermione Granger. Trying to make excuses, Draco searched her robes for further confirmation of her head girl status. He found the patch and squinted, able to discern the words 'head girl' on the maroon and gold emblem. He let out an 'aggh' and Hermione whipped her head around to stare at the surprising noise.

"Stop staring at my chest Malfoy!" Hermione spat out, frantically pulling her robe across her sweater.

Draco's gaze lingered for a few more seconds, until he snapped out of stupor. "Like your chest would ever be good enough for my eyes, _mudblood._" Draco made sure to emphasize his last word, saying it with as much venom as he could muster. Hermione simply blew his comment off, and instead chose to change the subject.

"I'm sure McGonagall will be here soon. Just sit your arse down."

Draco began to walk into the compartment and Hermione snickered when she saw him falter, having tripped on the track that the door to the compartment ran on. Draco simply glared back, and pretended as though nothing had happened. They were locked in each other's gaze, unable to turn away for fear of winning the war.

"His eyes are so intense," Hermione thought to herself. "They're almost…hypnotizing." Hermione further examined Draco's features. "Not bad for a prick. He's actually rather…handsome. OHMIGOD. I did _not_ just say that Draco Malfoy was handsome. Aaarrrgghh. He most definitely is not handsome, he's ugly, sallow, obnoxious…" Hermione continued her silent debate, her gaze unaffected by her mental struggle. Draco had similar thoughts to Hermione's, taking the opportunity as an excuse to look at her new body. Their stares were interrupted, however, when McGonagall gave a sharp cough to inform the arch nemeses of her presence. The two broke apart to look at the teacher, each somewhat thankful for her timely appearance. The transfiguration professor was followed by the 5th year prefects, all of whom were for the most part unfamiliar to Draco and Hermione. McGonagall introduced each pair, and once all 8 were acquainted with the heads, began her lecture.

"Being a head or a prefect is a privilege, not a right!" stressed the professor. "Don't think I won't remove you from your position if I catch in any conduct unbefitting of a student leader." McGonagall droned about the importance of respect and cooperation and Hermione hung onto every word. Draco continued looking at the enchanting scenery that lay just outside his window, barely paying attention, and some of the prefects were even nodding off, their heads snapping back into attention whenever McGonagall emphasized a particular word or raised her volume. After 20 minutes, she finished her tirade and with a wave of her hand dismissed the drowsy fifth years.

"Now you two," started McGonagall. "I don't want to see anything from either of you. I know your relationship is strained (both students snickered, strained was the understatement of the century) but I expect you to work together. I'm not going to say that our desire for inter-house unity in times such as these didn't play a role the headmaster's choices for the head positions, but each of you are still fitted for your roles."

Hermione and Draco each gave a subservient nod and McGonagall turned on her heel, preparing to ready the first years for their daunting passage onto the grounds of the school.

Draco, slightly angry at the fact that he had just been talked to like a child for the past 25 minutes, decided to take said anger out on Hermione.

"Out of my way mudblood," Draco spat. "How your parents tolerate someone as worthless as you I'll never know."

A mixture of fury and sadness washed over Hermione, who deciding not to leak weak in front of Malfoy, attempted to allow only the fury to show. She turned on Draco like lightning, pulling her wand out of the pocket in her skirt so fast he didn't even see it. Hermione turned on Malfoy and despite the six inches he had on her 5'6" frame she towered over him. Tears forming in her eyes, she managed to yell at him with as much volume and power as she had. "Don't you DARE talk about my parents Malfoy!" She swiftly turned back around, storming out of the compartment trying to hide the tears that were running down her face. But Draco had seen them glistening at the corners of her eyes. He was frightened by her reaction, which was the very least unexpected. He felt a pang of guilt, something that rarely ever happened. His conscience was getting the better of him. "How would you react if someone badmouthed your mother?" it questioned him. Angry at the victory of morality, he stormed back to his own compartment, wondering what had happened that would make her respond that way.

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Hermione choked back her tears, wiping them off her face in efforts to erase any evidence of her emotion before returning to the compartment where her friends were. She saw not one, but two redheads and realized that Ron had returned from his marathon snogging session with one Gryffindor's resident gossip queen. Only slightly disheveled, he had managed to grow another two inches over the summer and now stood at a staggering 6'4".

"You all right Hermione?" questioned Harry. He noticed the redness around her eyes and her saddened state as she stepped into the compartment.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, as if trying to convince herself. Harry decided not to press the matter. Per usual, Ron was completely oblivious to Hermione's feelings and gave her a hearty welcome with a romance-induced grin that seemed permanently etched on his face. Ginny, like Harry, noted Hermione's state and made a mental note to ask her about it later. The four young people felt the train come to a halt, and Hermione shot out of the door, eager not to be late for her very first duties as head girl.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Harry Potter, I would be one the of the world's wealthiest people. Since I am not one of the world's wealthiest people, I think it's safe to say that I don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 5**

Hermione sprinted to the exit of the train, able to navigate the corridors while they were still absent of students. She jumped off and paused for a second to take in the familiar environment. The air was clean and fresh, untouched by pollution because there was nothing around to cause it. (The train runs on magic, you didn't expect it to run on fuel did you?) She saw the trees, the hills, and the large foreboding body of water ahead of her. True to its name, the black pool shimmered and appeared to be flat, but Hermione was familiar with the creatures that lived deep beneath the unmoving surface. She shuddered to think what it would have been like to be aware of being underneath the water for so long, and was glad she didn't have to experience it while conscious.

Hermione watched as fourth years stepped off of the train with an over-confidence that was for the most part un-becoming. The second and third years made their way off the train, excitement in their eyes as they realized the magical world once again. Fifth, sixth, and seventh years were quick to regroup, joining friends they had yet to see and retelling the tales of their lazy summers. Hermione felt nothing but affection and nostalgia as she noticed the first year students stepping timidly off the train. They were shy, they were naïve, and they had no idea what lay before them. She chuckled, noticing a small girl berating two blushing boys for their careless regards to dental health.

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Harry was worried. Hermione looked different, more hollow than she did in years before. He noticed she was thinner, her cheekbones more prominent, her eyes slightly larger and a bit more sunken back. To most, Hermione looked the same as ever, but Harry noticed the minute changes. After all, when you're not quite as oblivious as Ron you tend to notice when your best friend of nearly 7 years doesn't look the same.

Harry had changed too. While the differences in his appearance were practically nonexistent, he had to try a bit harder to be happy and cheerful. Having to track down six objects of exceptional rarity and value, some of which had been hidden for hundreds of years, could do that to you. He had tried not to worry about it over the summer, but the thought of this task, looming over his head, had daunted him. It wasn't until the week before his birthday that his mood picked up.

Earlier that summer…

He was excited. Harry knew that his birthday was coming soon, and the protection his mother had placed upon him would disappear the moment he turned 17, and the Order wouldn't leave him unprotected in a muggle house, would they? Well, they wouldn't, and when Harry was 16 years, 364 days, 23 hours and 56 minutes old, a flash of pink hair apparated right in front of him. Expecting this to happen, he had already shrunk his trunk and placed it in his pocket and sent Hedwig to the Burrow with a letter for Ron. Broom in hand, he followed Tonks, who jerked her head to the kitchen.

Harry was filled with happiness when he stepped inside the room that was the place of so many unhappy memories. Noticing the familiar faces of Remus, Fred, and George.. Harry was handed a vial that was accompanied by an odious smell. In the potion, Harry noticed a bright red hair. Unsure of which Weasley's hair was in the vial, Harry drank it anyway, and after a sickening lurch Harry was able to gather that he had been transformed into the spitting image of Bill Weasley. Tonks quickly transfigured her clothing and used her metamorphagus abilities to change her appearance into someone who looked like, well, a 'lady of the night.' Remus pulled out a crown that said 'Bachelor of the year' and wrinkled Harry's shirt with a flick of his wand, half of it now un-tucked and the top buttons open wide. Tonks grabbed his color and gave it a kiss, making sure that her hot pink lipstick gave it an obvious smudge. Fred and George had an idea of their own, and making the whole ensemble just that much more believable, took out a hot pink lace thong and stuck it halfway into Harry's pocket. Smirking and then stepping back, they took a final look at Harry and nodded in satisfaction.

Harry controlled the urge to laugh when he finally put all the pieces together. Luckily for them, Bill's upcoming marriage to Fleur lended legitimacy to his disguise, which was, of course, Bill after his 'wild' bachelor party.

Each Order member then took out a cloak, temporarily charmed for invisibility, and disappeared. Harry, getting the idea, pulled out his own cloak and following his four friends strode to the door. Harry felt a yank on his hand and went in the direction he was pulled, deducing that this particular hand belonged to Tonks because it was highly doubtful that any of the other's accompanying him that night had hands quite this soft or small. After walking for 20 minutes, all five members of the party stopped and Harry noticed the location, a seedy looking building illuminated by a flashing neon sign that informed passers by of the lack of clothing worn by the women inside the establishment. Harry followed as his friends entered through the back door and made their way through. Lupin stopped to stare at a dancer for a second too long and Harry winced as he heard a slap across his favorite professor's face. Getting the message, all four males walked through the building with a quickened pace, eyes on their shoes. When they arrived at a coat closet just before the door, all five stepped inside and removed their cloaks. Harry pursued his friends as they walked outside to an area where no _muggles_ could see them, trying their best to make sure that all of the death eaters in the area got a good long look. Lupin was looking suggestively at the skankified Tonks, who only gave him an angry glare in return.

In perfect unison, Fred and George quipped, "Brothers don't let brothers fly drunk Bill," and then taking Harry's broom, putting the boy, who had finally caught on and began to act inebriated, on the back of George's broom while Fred took a hold of Harry's prized firebolt. With Tonks and Lupin on a decent Cleansweep model, the two brooms flanked George's. The quintet then kicked off, flying into the night and heading towards the burrow.

Any spying death eaters just looked on in shock. They had no idea how to put together what they had just seen, but the most accurate version was that Remus Lupin had taken a stripper home while Fred and George escorted a drunken Bill home, the eldest brother having enjoyed the entertainment at his bachelor party a little too much.

The rest of Harry's summer was the best he ever had. For the month with his best friends, Harry had the best of both worlds. Not only did he have friends to enjoy himself with but magical powers that he was finally able to use.

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Leading the second through fourth years to the carriages felt natural to Hermione. ((AN: I'm not sure how they get to the school, but in my world only the first years ride the boats and anyone fifth year and above doesn't need to be led to a carriage)) She was always a leader, and this felt no different. It seemed like she had been doing this for the past 6 years anyway. Noticing the absence of Draco, she was angry that he hadn't bothered to show up for this duty, knowing his sexy self was probably fooling around with his friends making some fifth year give him their candy Hold up—_sexy_? 'I need to lay off the butterbeer,' muttered Hermione to herself. She was still relieved however, because Draco's lack of presence gave Hermione the chance to enjoy the walk, avoiding being subject to his nasty remarks. Hermione's enjoyment lasted for about four seconds, when she saw Draco jogging into his place at the head of the crowd, as if he had been there on time all along.

"You're late Malfoy," commented Hermione.

"No I'm not. You're just early," the blonde boy retorted.

Hermione caught a glimpse of Malfoy's eyes. They were still penetrating, but they didn't seem quite as cold as they once did. They weren't exactly warm and inviting either though. Not breaking her gaze, Hermione continued to walk until SMACK. Her head collided nastily with a lamppost. She crumpled to the ground as everything went black.

"Hermione…Hermione," a voice called. It was slightly familiar, but she just couldn't place it. Her eyes fluttered as she awoke and saw Blaise Zabini, hunched over her limp body, his face revealing his worry. The first things she noticed were his brilliant blue eyes. He didn't look at her hungrily, but compassionately, as though she were his kid sister. She was warmed by his oddly un-Slytherin-like display of friendliness, but she knew all along that Zabini was no death eater. Sure he was a cocky narcissistic ass like most Slytherin boys, but he wouldn't bring himself to do something as hurtful and stupid as being a follower of the dark lord. Blaise moved his hand in front of Hermione, offering her his assistance. Gladly, she took it.

"I know I'm handsome Granger, but I never thought you'd be one to _fall_ for me," smirked Draco.

Blaise snickered. So much for friendly.


	6. not a chapter

Sorry for the confusing part halfway through the fifth chapter, I'm trying to work on an edit but I'm very busy with schoolwork. When I update with the (real) sixth chapter it will have been changed though.

I was trying to illustrate how Harry had escaped by pretending to be Bill after his bachelor party in efforts to avoid suspicion. My bad.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I erm…don't own Harry Potter. I know this may come as a shock to you, but I promise, we'll get through this.

**Chapter 6**

"Welcome students!" boomed Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. "And so begins another yeaar at our beloved Hoggy Warty. Without further ado, let the sorting begin!"

"Appleton, Alice," called McGonagall. A shy first year scurried to the front of the Great Hall, fearful of the intimidating professor. She trembled as she approached the stool that sat at the center of attention. She timidly hopped up on the chair as if it was going to eat her if she made one wrong move. Within seconds of being placed on her head, the ratty hat screamed, "HUFFLEPUFF!" And that was that. The little girl ran to join her table, content to be in the house that could have been easily replaced by a group of golden retrievers with wands. (AN: No offense to all you hufflepuff lovers out there, but they're not my favorite house) As the sorting went on, Gryffindor had found a new pair of cheeky twins in Kendall and Tommy Blake as well as 13 other courageous first years. There were 15 sneering Slytherins, 15 more Ravenclaws predestined for a life of studiousness, and 14 more eleven year olds that might as well have been wearing collars with names like 'Fido' and 'Fluffy' on them who joined Alice Appleton in Hufflepuff.

After Zane, Zachary was sorted into Slytherin Hermione couldn't help but laugh. What the fuck was it with Z's in Slytherin? Forget Slytherin, what the fuck was it with all this damn alliteration? I mean you already had Parvati and Padma Patil, William Weasley, Colin Creevey…and then think of the founders! Rowena Ravenclaw, Hestia Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar freaking Slytherin. WILL THE MADNESS NEVER END?!

"This year will be the greatest challenge you can imagine, announced Dumbledore. "You will encounter triumphs and tribulations. Some of you will face off with your mortal enemy." Dumbledore glanced at Harry. "Others will get their change to shine." Dumbledore's focus shifted to Ron. "You may over come your family's harsh expectations." Dumbledore's eyes were now on Malfoy. "You may even discover a secret about your past. You could be an entirely different person and not have known it for the past sixteen years…" Dumbledore's gaze shifted to Hermione.

"Could he BE any more subtle?" thought Hermione. "Why is he so goddamn cryptic?! There's a secret about my past? I'm not who I think I am?" Hermione's head was still calculating all the possibilities. She could be adopted! Her parents could have been bears, passing as humans, and she could be a bear too! But wait, a bear, that's silly. I mean sure, there's all the wonderful deeper symbolism she could explore within Shakespeare's a _Winter's Tale_ when Queen Hermione's best friend's husband was eaten by a bear, but as far as she knew neither Harry nor Ron were gay, and since Ginny was most likely to marry Harry, if anyone killed the boy-who-lived it probably wouldn't be a bear. All the irrational thoughts aside, Hermione made a chilling conclusion. "WHAT IF MY PARENTS WERE DEATHEATERS!" With this observation, of course, came the fact that Beth and Jake Granger couldn't even do muggle magic tricks if they tried, let alone some of the most lethal curses known to wizard. Nonetheless, Hermione was unable to conceal her worry.

"And now for the feast!" Food magically appeared on the table and within seconds every single male at Hogwarts had piled his plate high with eight different types of meat. Ron was stuffing chicken wings down his throat, alternating this with bites of a turkey leg that seemed permanently glued to his left hand. Harry, noticing something was up, shot Hermione a questioning look. She sent a dismissive wave in his direction and made more of an effort to hide her emotions. Unfortunately for Hermione, her poker face was not so great. Instead of looking worry free and nonchalant, she looked like she was high. And that is why for the rest of dinner, no one bothered to disturb one very trippy looking Hermione whose eyes were glaze over and half shut because at that moment she played the part of Loony Lovegood one hundred times better than Luna ever could.

Hermione didn't notice that no one was paying her any mind. She was lost in her own thoughts, running the inifinte number of possible scenarios in which her parents had a dirty little secret through her had. She also didn't notice that everyone had left, and she was one of 3 Gryffindors who remained at the expansive table in the Great Hall.

"Granger," the voice behind her barked.

"Wha-huh?" Hermione spun around to face the boy who demanded her attention.

Draco wasn't going to lie, he was slightly disappointed when she turned. Before she moved, Hermione was sitting in a way that allowed him to peer over her in a way that she most definitely wouldn't like, giving Draco an opportunity to see something he never thought he would. Hermione had taken the liberty of wearing her shirt without the top 3 buttons fastened and he was enjoying the view. Particularly view of the aforementioned object Draco thought he'd never see, at least not on Hermione that is. The new way Hermione wore her shirt also revealed the black lace bra that, as Draco observed, was functioning _very_ well. Lucky for Draco, Hermione was still in a daze when she turned, or she would have noticed his lecherous stare.

"Oh," was all she replied, and she got up, remembering the heads meeting McGonagall had schedule for 8 o'clock.

"Cat got your tongue?"

Hermione snapped out of her daze and back into reality.

"I _said_ cat got your tongue?," repeated Malfoy. "You're amazingly quiet for the insufferable annoying mudblood you usually are."

"I know you are but what am I?" she retorted.

"What the hell? That doesn't even make sense! Are you three years old Granger?"

Hermione chided herself for her lame comeback. "It's nothing ferret," she scowled. Why did he have to make her mad? It was like he had a radar that old him his presence would be the most annoying and his insults the most effective.

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"So glad you could come, even if you are," Minerva glanced at her watch, "3 minutes late. But let's get down to business. The first and pretty much only item on the agenda is your head duties. Before we begin, any questions?" Silence. "Very well then. As heads you must patrol, manage the prefects, be good examples to the younger years, various things of that nature. You will be treated no differently than other students. You can be punished and you will be given detentions if any of your teachers think it best. I expect you to live up to our expectations as head boy and head girl. In addition to your other more mundane duties, you will get to plan various balls and dances for the students, because we learned 3 years ago that the reward system works, and it works well."

Draco and Hermione intrigued by the thought of planning balls. Hermione was interested because the thought of controlling and planning something was incredibly enticing. Draco was excited by the prospect of using his head status to lure girls into his bedroom after the dance.

"Even at Hogwarts, we have had to succumb to political correctness. That is why this year; we will hold the Hogwarts Annual Non-Denominational Dance, otherwise known as the HANDD. Yes, I know, it's a crummy acronym but there's only so much you can do with non-denominational."

Draco, determined to get into the good graces of the Deputy Headmistress, gave a polite chuckle, not knowing if McGonagall was joking or not. She glared at Draco, who decided that the laugh was probably the wrong choice.

"We will also hold a Halloween Costume party so we have something in a more informal setting (thank goodness the parents of Hogwarts children had no objection to the promotion of the theme of witchcraft in their children's activities), a Valentine Ball, a Spring Fling, and a Graduation Bash."

"Spring Fling? Graduation Bash? What—no prom?" asked Hermione.

"Well Ms. Granger, feel free to rename any of the events however you chose, because frankly I don't really care," said McGonagall. Hermione regretted her comment for the same reason that Draco had regretted laughing, but McGonagall continued.

"Now, onto another important matter, your housing. If you will follow me, I will show you to your dormitory."

"No offense professor, but I think I know how to get back to the Slytherin common room. I also find it absolutely pathetic if the brightest witch of her age can't find her way back to the home of the Gryffindorks," said Draco.

"Watch your tongue Mr. Malfoy," the older lady warned curtly. "As a matter of fact, you two will _share_ a dormitory, and by that I mean that you will spend the next 10 months in the head dormitory where you will share a common room and a bathroom and sleep in _separate_ bedrooms. We don't need a repeat of what happened the last time we let two heads share a dormitory, we don't need Mr. Malfoy here winding up pregnant." The two seventeen year olds sat in their chairs, mouths agape. "Don't ask," said McGonagall as she shuddered. She motion for the two to follow her as she led them out the door.

McGonagall led them down to a corridor close to the majority of the classrooms and the

great hall past a sign that read, 'Authorized Personnel Only.' Draco smirked satisfactorily as if the sign further affirmed his VIP status while Hermione just shook her head and rolled her eyes, pushing Draco along when he stopped for too long in front of a mirror.

"Here we are," announced the professor. Welcome to your new chamber. First, you must pick a password."

Draco made a motion to shove Hermione out of the way so that he would be the one to pick the password. They didn't need to end up with something to Grangerish, he couldn't take his friends back to the common room only to have to announce his love of muggles or some shit like that. But before Draco could get in a word in, Hermione reacted.

"Get the fuck off me Malfoy!"

"I can't say that I am too fond of the crude language but very well, that will do," sighed McGonagall.

Hermione groaned, today was not going very well for her. It was supposed to be her perfect year but her future did not look favorable. Her best friends had pretty much ditched her for their girlfriends and she was going to be roommates with her mortal enemy. She concluded that she would just have to make the most of it.

McGonagall repeated the password (which was a sight in itself, no one had ever heard her say 'fuck' before) and the portrait swung open. The four bodies on the portrait, each clad in (you guessed it) the colors of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin began to sing as if they were in a barbershop quartet.

"Welcommmmeeee," sang Gryffindor in a deep bass ((AN: Sorry I don't know singing terms, it pretty much just goes low to high)

"Welcoommmeeeee," sang Hufflepuff in alto

"Welcooommmeeee," sang Ravenclaw in a beautiful soprano

"Welcooommmmmmee," sang Salazar. His falsetto voice was the most surprising of all.

"We are," said Gryffindor.

"the founders of," informed Ravenclaw.

"The Hogwarts Academy," exclaimed Hufflepuff

"for Wizardry and Witchcraft," finished Slytherin.

"Witchcraft and Wizardry you sexist pig," interjected Hestia.

Salazar ignored this comment and glanced at Hermione. Walking as forward as a 2 dimensional portrait could, he looked her up and down and then said, "How you doin'?" in his best Joey impersonation.

Draco stepped in front of her protectively but when he realized what he was doing he immediately stepped back.

"I felt a drop of water on me and I didn't want the ceiling to leak on my 100 galleon robes," muttered Malfoy, his eyes on the floor.

"Don't worry Malfoy, I'm sure I can protect myself from the big bad painting."

"Hermione dear, you might want to fix your shirt," reminded McGonagall.

"My shirt? What's wrong with my shirt?" Hermione looked down. "Oh. Whoops." She hastily buttoned up the third button, she hadn't noticed it had come undone.

"Damn," thought Draco. "I guess I won't be seeing her like that after all."

Having slightly lost his will to insult after losing one of his favorite views, Malfoy followed the head of the Gryffindor house into the new common room. It was very tastefully done in maroon and silver, and was fairly traditional. There were plush couches and rugs in rich colors. The wood was a dark mahogany. Malfoy was only glad that they hadn't chosen green and gold, because he didn't want to live as if he were a leprechaun for a full year.

McGonagall gestured to either side of her. To the left was a door with a green stripe running horizontally across it. "Mr. Malfoy, that is your room over there, and Ms. Granger, that is your room to the right." She pointed to a similar room with a maroon stripe running across it. "Down there," McGonagall pointed to another door in the center of the room, "is the bathroom. I'll leave you two to explore. Enjoy your new accommodations. Feel free to ask any of the house elves to bring you food and the like, and don't worry Ms. Granger they have assured me that it is no trouble at all. We have also magically charmed a TV and DVD player to work, and now I am off, enjoy." Hermione was still angry about the house elves but decided to let it go, a good part of her forgiving attitude was due to the shelf full of movies that would give her something to do when her best friends were off with their girlfriends. And it was fun seeing Draco so confused. Besides, she didn't _have_ to call on one of the house elves, she was perfectly self sufficient after all. And it helped she could make her way down to the kitchens blindfolded. When you're best friends with two boys during their O.W.L.S. then it works out to a lot of midnight snack runs. And Hermione knew her way around a spatula. Her parents could barely make canned soup, so it was thank god for their chef. Come to think of it, she was quite a bit different from her parents…"WOAH I'm getting off track," Hermione thought to herself. Draco noticed her absence from reality once again and laughed.

"What's a matter Granger, never seen anything so grand before?"

"No you blithering idiot it's just…and I….this is all….ARGH." Hermione stomped out and into her room. She was pretty impressed. It was fairly the modern, the walls were a bright blue with just a hint of green in it, with the exception of a few that were stark white. The floor was a beautiful dark mahogany and the furniture was similar to that which was outside in their common room. Her bed linens were simple and tasteful in all white. There was an expansive closet for the new wardrobe Hermione had purchased (she learned that online shopping was an excellent distraction) and with a wave of her wand her trunk was in a corner serving as a coffee table and her clothes were unpacked and neatly arranged in order of type of garment and color. She quickly changed out of her robes and into a pair of white shorts and a basic navy blue tank top, deciding that she would shower in the morning. Hermione than grabbed a bag of popcorn and with a flick it began to pop until 10 seconds later she held in her hand a steaming bag of buttery goodness. She transfigured an empty plastic vase into a popcorn bowl and voila, instant party. She was glad she decided to read, "The Wizarding Way to Do 1001 Cool Things that Muggles Do." The title was lacking, but the content was extremely useful.

Draco had a similar idea, and with a wave of his wand he was instantly unpacked. He too, decided that a shower in the morning would be the best idea, and slipped on a pair of emerald green plaid pajama pants (Silk was a little to playa for him. Sure it was his image but he didn't want to look like a pimp) and decided to go into the common room and further examine this 'TV' and 'movies.' Blasted muggles were probably so stupid the only way they could find to entertain themselves was to stare at a box all day long. He walked into the common room and noticed Granger, sitting in the couch watching who knows what. _Thank god for muggle clothing_. It turned out that the common room had the best view in the whole castle.

----

AN: And so ends chapter 6. I hope it was a bit longer than my earlier chapters, and I hope that it was all clear enough, I tend to get a bit rambly when I write so let me know if there are any issues. Sorry about the last 'chapter' I didn't intend to have it be just an AN so my bad! It's a long weekend so I hope I can write another chapter before I have to go back to school!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter, damn.

((AN: I did completely skip chapter 6, when the numbers don't match with the chapter numbers it drives me crazy though. Also, Blaise's mom didn't have a ton of husbands, they're just generally rich. Also, move all the timelines from the book up 10 years))

**Chapter 8**

After seeing Hermione, Draco decided that he would like to avoid getting his butt kicked and leave her to her movie. Draco returned to his bedroom for the night, alone, because he had decided he could stand celibacy for a day whilst he settled in. He heard the tap tap tap on the glass of the expansive window that looked out onto the Forbidden Forest from their common room and saw a tawny oil at the door with a plain piece of parchment.

"Granger, get that stupid owl will you? I'm going to bed." Draco sauntered through the doorway and onto the black silken sheets (Okay, so he did like to be a little pimpin') of his four-poster bed. All of the day's insults had tired him out and within 4.38 seconds of his head hitting the pillow, he was out like a light.

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Hermione went to the window, opening up a small door on the side, for the window was much too big to open all the way, to retrieve the letter from the owl. She placed two owl treats in her palm for the wise bird and undid the parchment he had brought for her. The owl gave a happy chirp and flew away. She unfolded the parchment that read,

_Ms. Granger, _

_Because my goddamned self was so cryptic earlier today, I have decided that it is best to inform you of some very important information. Please meet me in my office at 7:00 AM sharp for breakfast and perchance a lemon drop. You needn't worry you are not a bear. _

_Sincerely, _

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Order of Merlin, First Class_

_Mentor to the Chosen One_

_Resident BAMF_

_P.S. The password is 'Sourheads'_

Hermione blushed reading the letter. _Damn, _she thought. _I really need to learn occulemency. _Hermione had finished watching National Treasure, which she had laughed at for a good long time. Those Americans and their conspiracy theories cracked her up. She headed back up to her room, already in her pajamas and slid into the warmth of the cotton/flannel blend that adorned her bed and snuggled up into the comforter as her mind drifted off to dreamland.

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_Hermione was in her bed and she felt the warmth of a body next to her. He was kissing her with a liberal amount of tongue and she was kissing back passionately. Their bodies were practically intertwined and the heat and chemistry between them was phenomenal. Hermione moaned as she felt the warmth of his fingers run up and down the small of her back, sending shivers up her spine. She shuddered and opened her eyes to look at her lover and saw a flash of sexy, blonde ha-_

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Hermione awoke with a start, thrashing at her comforter.

"Oh…my…God," she thought. "I just had a sex dream about Draco Malfoy! Holy shit, dream? Try nightmare. She got up and ran to the bathroom, grabbing her toothbrush she scrubbed for nearly a quarter of an hour until she had rid her mouth of the taste that was never even there. She would have scrubbed her brain if she could, _anything_ to get that image out of her head. Heck even obliviating herself seemed like a good option right now, even if she did end up cuckoo like her 2nd year DADA professor, because from the looks of it that was already where she was headed. Hermione ran back into her room and jumped back into the sheets once again, slipping back into a peaceful sleep.

Two minutes later she heard the familiar beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, of her alarm clock that was flashing 6:00 AM. She sighed. "Damn breakfast meetings," she muttered to herself.

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In the mornings, just before the sun rose, Draco enjoyed a nice run. Nothing calmed him down like the wind whipping through his hair and stroking his ego. After all, how else would he stay so fit? Sure Quidditch was hard and all, but his taut stomach muscles were the result of years of early morning runs. After this run, it was quite obvious that Draco would need a shower. While the women, and even some of the boys who saw him early in the morning swooned at his manly appearance and sexy musk it was still kind of disgusting to go to class sweaty. Draco re-entered the castle, jogging up the stone steps back to the common room he shared with his enemy.

Draco entered his room, peeling of his perspiration-soaked clothes and throwing them into a corner for the house elf to clean. Still in his boxers, he grabbed his towel and walked into the bathroom.

_If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,_

_Make it last forever friendship never ends,_

_If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,_

_Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is._

Draco heard the singing over the running of the rain shower. He snickered at Hermione's attempt at music. If Hermione knew Draco had heard, she would have thanked Merlin that Draco hadn't a clue who the Spice Girls were.

He peeked around the corner and saw that she had yet to remove her clothes. _Damn. _She took off her shirt and was left standing in light pink bra and matching underwear. He snickered again. Big mistake. Hermione's head turned toward the noise and she gasped. She quickly pulled the shower curtain in front of her. Malfoy was _very_ happy with what he had seen. Her body was as good as her form-fitting clothes suggested. Her long torso and flat stomach accompanied the shapely legs he had seen earlier. In a physical sense, she was very beautiful. Draco refused to accept this.

"Malfoy! What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Well if must know mudblood, I came here to use the shower. Being as manly and I am can work up quite a sweat."

"Ha. You, manly? Why are you _really_ here Malfoy?" Draco fumed at this remark.

"Just let me take my shower Granger."

"Not a chance, I was here first!" Hermione's eyes caught a view of Malfoy's chest. It was bare, and he was hot. Very hot. His boxers were dangerously low, displaying his wondrous abs.

"Like what you see Granger?"

"Just how many times have you used that line Malfoy?"

"Oh don't worry, I reserved it especially for you."

"Ew. Go away Malfoy."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, I always take a shower every morning at 6:10, so I'm afraid that you will have to leave. But of course, you're welcome to stay."

Hermione was furious, but then a brilliant idea entered her head. "Okay Malfoy, come on in. "

Draco was flabbergasted. He stood in the same spot, mouth open for a good 10 seconds. Hermione had just invited him to shower, _with her. _He had had his share of showers with hot girls, but usually it was because they were total sluts who wanted to jump him. He highly doubted that Hermione had invited him into the shower to have raunchy pre-breakfast sex.

"Alright then Granger, just don't touch me. I've heard its mudblood season, and there's no vaccine for it yet."

Hermione was not expecting this. She had thought that his hatred of her would override his desire for cleanliness, when in fact; it was his poorly suppressed desire for her that had overridden his dislike of muggleborns.

He stepped onto the marble tile, throwing his towel outside of the shower. As he began to remove his boxers she quickly conjured an extra shower curtain between them.

"What the hell are you doing? You're in the presence of a _lady_ Malfoy. Didn't your mother ever teach you that getting naked in front of girls wasn't polite?"

"Sure it is," he replied. "Seeing me naked is beneficial to all parties. But you're right I better keep these on. Wouldn't want you eyeing me like a piece of meat. "

Urrrggh. Hermione was fed up. Not incredibly confident in the opacity or the stability of the shower curtain, she quickly muttered a spell to transfigure her underwear into a bathing suit. She began to shower as quickly as she possibly could, as if attempting to scrub his presence off of her skin. Hermione felt Malfoy's hand through the shower curtain as it connected with her back.

"Sorry Granger, just looking for the soap."

"Why Malfoy? No amount of soap could scrub off the filth of death eater from your skin so why bother trying?" Malfoy spun around and held out his locked left arm.

"You see this Granger? You see this?! Do you see any fucking dark mark on it? I didn't think so." He pushed her up against the wall, their wet bodies in such a closer proximity that would have been incredibly hot had Hermione not felt the fear she was trying to mask right now. His chest crushed against hers and his lips inches away from her mouth. "Don't talk about things you can't even begin to understand." His gravelly voice sent shivers through her spine as she felt his hot breath on her face. It was minty.

Draco stormed out of the bathroom and retreated to his room. Hermione was breathing heavily, her back relying on the wall for support. She had never expected Draco to react like that. She had expected something more along the lines of, "In that case, why don't you wash me instead?" or something that reeked of sexual innuendo. Instead he just blew up. Hermione went into Dr. Phil mode. Obviously he was struggling against what his father and his society commanded he do and what was the right thing.

Why was she thinking so much about Malfoy anyway? It's not like she was particularly invested in his life. What was she going to do, go running to the headmaster and tell him surprise! Malfoy wasn't a death eater.

Oh snap.

The headmaster.

She glanced at the giant clock on the wall. It read 6:45. Damn that sensual tension, it wastes so much time.

She hurried out of the bathroom, wrapping the towel around her body and her newly conditioned hair. She quickly changed into her uniform, not taking particular care in dressing that day. She made sure her tie was straight and the buttons on her shirt matched up properly. She slipped on the black sweater and gray skirt and then completed the outfit with a pair of black leather ballet flats. Over the summer she had started experimenting with her hair. Originally she had planned to use a complicated straightening and smoothing charm but all she had time to do was to blast her hair with a drying charm and let her frizzy curls run wild. She glanced at her alarm clock. 6:55. She dashed out the door, running to the headmaster's office. She was set back by two changing staircases but at 6:59 she was out of breath and in front of the familiar gargoyle statue.

"Sourheads," she said quickly, still heavily breathing as she paused for a momentary rest. When the staircase was revealed she hurried up and knocked on the wall informing the headmaster of her presense.

"Ahh Miss Granger, so glad you could make it. Please have a seat," he motioned to the empty chair next to a mass of black hair. Harry? No, this couldn't be Harry. This boy's hair was even messier—if that was possible. From the looks of it he was about 6 foot 1. "You know Mr. Zabini, yes? You met with him at Professor Slughorns little get together last year if I remember correctly," said Dumbledore.

"Yes professor, that's correct," said Hermione. "I don't mean to be rude professor, but why are we here?"

"Beats me," said the raven-haired boy. "I just got the owl to came, so here I am. No offense Granger, but I can't imagine what you and I have in common." Blaise's tone wasn't sharp or hurtful, just observant. Calling her Granger was something he did out of habit, he was used to hearing Draco say it often. Well, that and mudblood, but he didn't care for the term, although he had heard it from his best friend considerably less now. Nonetheless, he harbored no ill will towards her. Like Pansy, his cunning, deviousness, and genetics had earned him a place in the Slytherin house, not his allegiance to a certain Dark Lord. Unlike Pansy, he didn't face the parental pressure to get the mark. His mother and father both vehemently opposed to the motives and practice of the dark lord as well as the evil man himelf, they were just more discrete. Slytherins aren't stupid after all, you don't go blabbing everywhere about your opposition to someone with the power to have you killed. But there was no doubt about it; Nathan and Francesca Zabini were on the same side as the golden trio. However, they had officially adopted a position of neutrality, not ready to accept the risk of fighting for the Order.

"Blaise, let me get right to the point. Your parents used to be under a great deal of pressure from Voldemort, correct?" questioned Dumbledore.

"Yes professor…that's correct, but then they used the money grandfather left us to buy us out of the conflict. You-know-who may be extremely powerful, but he always needs gold. In exchange for a few million galleons he let my parents be for the time being. He hasn't been in contact since, but I know they worry constantly about his return. But how did you know professor?"

"I have my ways Mr. Zabini. Am I correct in my knowledge that you were born during this time?"

"Yes-I was born on September 19th, 1989. My grandfather died when I was six and my parents were able to use a fraction of the Zabini estate to buy us temporary safety."

"Huh," exclaimed Hermione. "I was born on September 19th too. That's pretty neat. Professor, is this an attempt at inter-house unity? Show us all we're not too different because we have the same birthday?"

"On the contrary Ms. Granger, you two do not have the same birthday by coincidence." For someone who was extremely bright and book smart, Hermione had her moments.

"But the only non-coincidental way that people can share a birthday is oh…OH….OOOOOOH. Wait what? OHMIGOD. I ALMOST MADE OUT WITH MY TWIN BROTHER."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

**Chapter 9**

Blaise cringed. "Oh yeah…that."

"This is something I don't know about," said the professor, whose inflection was indicative of his surprise.

"Well, at the Slug Club Christmas party," started Hermione. "There may have been a..ehhh…a behind the scenes game of spin the bottle. I mean there's only so much of Professor Slughorn you can take. Why do you think I ditched Cormac? I mean besides the whole obsessed with Ron thing, he was a terrible kisser. I may have spun the aforementioned bottle, it landed in front of Blaise and I never thought I'd say this-ever, but thank god for Snape! If he hadn't walked in when he did. Eeewwwww."

"Let's never speak of it again," said Blaise.

"I agree."

"Well," said the headmaster nervously. "That's an interesting development. Anywhosits, as you two now know, you are brother and sister. Blaise, 4 minutes after you were born, Hermione was born. In those times it was significantly harder for a girl to survive in Voldemort's world than a boy. They were looked down upon, beaten; your parents didn't want this life for Hermione. Now I could explain this to you, but I think I know of two people who might be able to do a better job."

Dumbledore nodded towards the staircase, and up it walked a man and a woman, both with Blaise's jet-black hair. They appeared to be about 36, but Hermione knew they were at least 40. They were both tall and regal looking, but their clothes were simple and tailored. While obviously good quality, the garments did not scream, 'Look at me! I'm rich!' Their faces were kind and tears were forming in their eyes. Nathan's brilliant blue eyes immediately connected him to Blaise. Blaise ran up to hug his parents. Knowing why they really came, he then quickly stepped aside.

"Hermione," said Dumbledore. "This is Nathan Zabini and this is Francesca Zabini. They are your parents."

"Hello Hermione," her mother began. "We are very sorry for the loss of your parents. I know we're your biological parents, but nothing could ever replace the love of the Grangers, they raised you, and for that we are so grateful."

Hermione ran up to her parents and hugged them, letting the tears fall. She loved the Grangers, she loved them so much, but they were different. They loved her too, but Hermione had known for a while that she wasn't her father's daughter. It was the cleft chin. When she was 10 she learned about genetics in her muggle primary school. Hermione had a cleft chin, her father didn't. She knew her mother; there was no way that she was ever with anyone other than her father. She never stopped loving them, and she never told them she knew.

"We didn't want to let you go, we really didn't, but we had no choice. Your mother, Mrs. Granger, was my roommate at Oxford. My father wanted me to be well rounded, so I went to muggle primary school and then university after Hogwarts. When I came back, I met Nathan, and we got married, and pregnant, and then came you and Blaise. No one knew we were having twins, and we didn't want Voldemort to get his hands on you." Their mention of the name impressed Hermione. "Your mother and father couldn't have children, and we wanted the best for you. So Nathan took you to her house with a letter explaining everything. I had to cutoff all contact with her as not to arouse suspicion. I'm sorry-it was the only way. You have to understand, I lost a daughter and a best friend that day, I was devastated."

"I do," said Hermione. "I really do, and I thank you. The Granger's were the best parents I could ever wish for."

Their reunion was long and tearful. Blaise was happy to have a sister, and not to be an only child. At home it got a bit lonely, his parents were busy, and now he had a sister. The Slytherin in him was glad he would finally have someone to tease and prank. He had only known her as his sister for a few minutes, but already he felt so protective of her.

"Wait a minute. Why don't I look like any of you?" Hermione pondered aloud. "I mean I hardly look a thing like any of you."

"Hermione, you are a Zabini. In fact, you are Hermione Jane Zabini. We didn't want you to have to go through the shock of your name changing drastically, and no one knew you existed anyway. But aside from all that, you are familiar with a glamour charm, are you not?" asked the headmaster.

"You mean I've been under one all my life?"

"Yes," explained Mr. Zabini. "It was supposed to wear off when you turned 17, but in light of recent events…" his voice trailed off, "it's probably best if we remove it now. However, if you want, we won't remove it."

"No, it's alright. I want to see what I look like, I mean really look like. I don't need my appearance to remind me of what life was like with the Grangers."

"Alright then. Revealio." Hermione didn't feel any different. Well not very different at least, she could tell she was a tad taller, and in she had in fact risen from 5'3" to 5'5". She turned around to glance in a mirror. Her frizzy hair was now sleek and smooth with a slight wave that made her look like she had just returned from the beach. Her kind chocolate brown eyes were not the trademark Zabini blue. Her hair, her eyes, and her height appeared to be the only things that changed.

"That's all? What about my hair color?"

"That's a recessive trait in the family dear," her mother explained. "It's been passed down for generations through your fathers side but the black hair has been dominant for generations. By chance, I carried the gene as well."

"Oh. Well, this is all…a lot. And it's all very confusing." 

"We understand dear," said her mother comfortingly. "Take all the time you want, and we're always here if you have any questions. Unfortunately your father and I have to leave, there is some important business to attend to at the investment firm we own. Blaise, watch over your sister."

"Of course mother," the boy confirmed.

"And Hermione, we know this is all very new, and we're not expecting you to pack up your entire life, but we would like very much if you would spend Christmas break with us at the manor. You don't have to, and we really want you to keep your family home, but we would love the time to get to know you."

"I think I'd like that."

"Excellent. Remember, we love you. Now you two run to breakfast. Don't go missing the most important meal of the day." With those words Hermione's mother hurried down the stairs followed by her father.

"Now Hermione, this will be quite a change to live with, especially for your friends, but I think it's best that we reveal the 'new you' today," advised the headmaster.

"I agree headmaster, the sooner I get this over with the better."

"Come on little sis," Blaise motioned to the staircase. "Let's get down to breakfast."

The two began to silently go down the staircase, unaware of what to say to each other. "Well, this is awkward," commented Hermione.

"Yeeaahhh," agreed Blaise. "Last one to breakfast is a rotten egg!" Clearly he was eager to make up for the time they had lost.

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Hermione was out of breath for the second time that morning. She stood at the entrance to the great hall and stopped to take a rest. Blaise had beaten her by almost 10 seconds, but he was much more athletic than she was anyway. Blaise held the door for his sister and they strode into the great haul. Hermione hurried over to the Gryffindor table while Blaise sat with his fellow Slytherin.

"Was that Granger?" remarked Draco, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Nope," replied Blaise, piling bacon onto his plate.

"I know the eyes are different, the hairs a little nicer and she's a little taller, but that girl is a dead ringer for Granger!"

"She's a Zabini," commented Blaise. His tone was incredibly casual, and it took Draco a moment to register what his best friend had said.

"What?!"

"She's my sister." Blaise paused in between each word as if trying to force the knowledge of his relation to Hermione in Draco's thick head.

"But…but…how?"

"Well when a man and a woman love each other very much-"

"I know that how you idiot! How did you not know all these years, and why do you know now?!"

Blaise recounted the long story to his buddy, who sat there in amazement.

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"Omigosh Hermione are you wearing heels?" asked Ginny excitedly.

"Umm…no, about that you see…"

"And since when do you wear contacts? That blue is insane! But why change the color of your eyes? And what did you do to your hair! It looks sooo soft." Ginny ran up to pet her friend's hair.

"You didn't have to change Hermione. You were fine how you were before," said Harry.

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "But you look _really_ good now." Ron eyed Hermione up and down.

"Gross Ronald. Stop molesting me with your eyes will you? As I was saying, I didn't change anything per se; it just so happens that I was born this way."

"Ahm I miffing somfing?" questioned Ron, his mouth full of food.

"Erm…no. I'm not really Hermione Granger, as it turns out."

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HERMIONE!?" cried Ginny.

"I'm Hermione Zabini, and I've done nothing with her. As it turns out, Hermione Zabini (me) is Hermione Granger (still me)."

"Oh. Oooohhh. OH. Ewwww," said Ginny, wrinkling her nose.

"Are you remembering about the time I told you about the party and--"

"Yeah."

"What?" Harry and Ron were completely bewildered, but it is Harry who formed the question.

"Don't ask," spoke Hermione and Ginny in unison.

"Let me get this straight," said Harry. "You are Hermione Zabini." Hermione nodded. "You are Blaise's…twin?" She nodded again. "The Granger's aren't really your parents?" Nod. "The Zabini's gave you up when you are a baby?" Nod. "Why?"

"Voldemort was pressuring them and they didn't want me to grow up like that. Mrs. Zabini, or mum I guess, was my mum—err—Mrs. Granger's roommate at university. They bought their way out of his terror when I was eight."

"Cool," commented Harry.

"So you're okay with it?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? You've been like a sister to me ever since we saved you from that troll. Besides, if I give you up, all I've got left is Ron here. While can eat just about anything, I can hardly call him the brightest witch of his age." Hermione hugged Harry and Ron sat oblivious, as he had stopped paying attention to the conversation. Remembering what the topic was, he chose that moment to chime in.

"So what are you gonna do now, huh? Run off with all your little death eater friends and live happily ever after?"

"Ron, you git," said Harry. "Were you listening to a thing she just said?"

"Errr—no. Lavender decided to wear a different shirt today, and it show off her huge boo-,"

"Shut it Ron," said Ginny, whacking her big brother upside the head.

"ts!" Finished Ron, trying to cover off his mistake. "It shows off her huge…boots."

"Nice save Ron," chuckled Harry. "Nice save."

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"Witches and wizards of Hogwarts, good morning," spoke the wise headmaster. "Today is your first day of classes, who's excited?!" Crickets. "Oh, my bad, I guess I'm not up on the lingo you kids use. Eh hem. What's up all you wizards and wiotches? Are you ready to do some learning-izzle?" More crickets.

"Very well then, I have an announcement to make," said the headmaster, attempting to hide his blush as he recovered from embarrassment. "Hermione Granger, the head girl you know and love, does not exist!" This exclamation resulted in a gasp from every student and teacher. "She is in fact, Hermione Zabini!" There was a relieved sigh, followed by some form or another of "Headmaster say whaaa?" from the general population of Hogwarts. "Remember," continued the headmaster, "that it is not your last name that defines you, but what everyone else thinks of you. Toodles!" With a cheerful wave the headmaster dashed out the door, leaving behind a bewildered crowd, all of whom were staring at the brown haired blue eyed girl at the Gryffindor table who was nonchalantly eating a pancake.

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After a few minutes the students for the most part regained their sense of normalcy and the dull roar of more than 400 gossiping students continued.

"Dude," said Theodore Nott. "You're sister is HOT."

"Back off Nott. You take one step towards her and instead of Theodore Nott you'll be Theodore Nott-breathing-so-well."

"Chill mate. Didn't know you'd be so bloody overprotective."

"So it's true then Blaise?" asked Pansy.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Good. Because if you had cheated on me with her there would be hell to pay."

"Umm…Pansy…that's disgusting. That would be incest."

"Damn straight Zabini. Damn straight," replied his girlfriend.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, the characters, etc.

**Chapter 10**

"Damn double potions," muttered Harry.

"I can't believe we have it with the Slytherins too!" exclaimed Ron.

"I know," said Hermione. "It's so cliché. At least Snape's not teaching it though."

"Uggh," shuddered the boy-who-lived. "Don't remind me. Although you have to admit, it is pretty hilarious how Dumbledore's made him the new muggle studies teacher."

"And to think he had to go and live in the muggle world for the whole summer!" chuckled Hermione. "Can you imagine him coming face to face with his worst nightmare each time the maid replaced the toiletries in his hotel room? He was probably more frightened of those tiny little shampoo bottles than his precious Dark Lord."

"At least they won't let that disaster teach DADA again. Wonder who it is this year," commented Ron.

"According to my schedule, it's," Hermione glanced at her schedule, "N. Tonks."

"N. Tonks…" repeated Harry.

"Oh my goodness, TONKS!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Finally, it's about time we've had another decent teacher," remarked the red-haired boy.

"Here we are, Slughorn's wonderful potions lab of sunshine and rainbows. You guys ready for some good old favorite's club favoritism?" asked Harry.

"I can't wait," replied Hermione.

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"Welcome back class, for another rousing year of potions education!" exclaimed the enthused, yet chubby, professor. "Now, today, I think it's best we start off with a very difficult potion. Mind you it will take a while to brew, but the results have excellent applications in the real world. This potion is excellent for clever pranks, disguising oneself, as well as my personal favorite, some rather interesting roleplaying. Can anyone tell me what this potion is?"

The entirety of the class said something along the lines of, "Ewwww," when Hermione's hand shot up in the air.

Without being called, Hermione supplied the class with her response. "It's Polyjuice potion sir."

"Excellent Miss Granger, 10 points to Gryffindor for your amazing display of intelligence." Draco pouted in the corner of the Slytherin section. It was no doubt he was still a little…sore about not being a member of the Slug's infamous club. "What kind of teacher would I be if I didn't give a certain three students an advantage by having them brew a potion they've already made correctly? Now off to work, all of you."

And so, for the next two hours the students were busy, slaving away over their potions. Hermione, who did the majority of the work around the same time 6 years ago, simply accio'd all the ingredients to her workstation and after having prepared them properly with the use of little magic, simply waved her wand as the ingredients practically threw themselves into the cauldron in perfect order. With a simple self-stirring charm, Hermione was on her way to the perfect polyjuice.

"Hermione, I thought you didn't like to use magic for everyday things!" said Ron in an accusatory tone.

"First of Ron, making a magical potion that will change your appearance into practically anything is hardly everyday—even in the magical world. And second of all, I enjoy using magic. So it makes things a little easier, where's the harm in that?"

Ron simply huffed and returned to doing his manual labor, not having mastered the charms Hermione had used with such ease just a few moments before.

Draco wasn't going to pretend he didn't noticed what had transpired, because he most definitely did. So little Miss Granger is a little less muggle than we thought. What a pleasant surprise.

"Alright students, class dismissed," announced Slughorn.

With a flurry of activity ingredients flew back onto the storeroom shelves of the potions classroom, and those who didn't know how to return the items to their proper places using magic were forced to walk them over there. This resulted in Ron and many others who weren't very confident with their magic, or very bright (e.g. Crabbe and Goyle) being pelted with boomslang skin and other things one wouldn't want all over one's robes.

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And so the day continued. Charms was easy. Flitwick had decided that he would go easy on the students for their first week back and had focused solely on review of last year's material. The end was result was most Hermione having finished her homework during the first quarter hour of class, followed shortly by Harry and some of the smarter Hufflepuffs. Ron, of course, was too busy hanging on Flitwick's every word, desperate to catch up and obviously not prepared for the N.E.W.T. charms course.

"Man, that class was tough, right Harry?"

"Umm…yeah…killer mate," the boy replied, not wanting to embarrass his friend.

After Potions and Charms came lunch. Hermione watched in disgust as Harry and Ron descended upon their food as if they had no knowledge of table manners whatsoever. She turned around, glancing at the Slytherin table. She saw Blaise give her a cheerful wave, which she returned, and noticed a certain blonde who was looking at her quite curiously. Hermione shrugged and turned around, taking Draco's glare for one of anger after what had transpired that morning.

This morning. The whole thing was still very strange to her. She was head girl, Hermione Zabini. Not Hermione Granger, but Hermione Zabini. Hermione Zabini didn't sound much better than Hermione Granger, but then again not much goes with the name Hermione. At least her parents weren't death eaters. That was definitely a plus. And however sad she was over the loss of the Grangers, she was glad she wasn't put in the awkward place of choosing between her adoptive or biological parents. Everyone would expect her to pick up her entire life and just move on in with them, even though she would've only known who she was for a few weeks before making the change. Hermione ran her fingers through her hair. She basked in the frizz-free bliss. The soft waves complimented the shape of her face. Her eyes were definitely something that would take some getting used to. The brilliant blue was overpowering, each time she looked in the mirror. She wasn't usually very vain, but she couldn't help sneaking a glance every now and then to admire the slight changes in her appearance.

After lunch came Arithmancy, which was a snore. At least she didn't have to take divination. She could only imagine what would happen. Trelawney would predict someone's death, probably Harry's. Ron and Harry would then look at a paper plate or scarf and then bullshit something about the future, probably that the way the paper plate had been tossed it was obvious that one of their classmates had a foot fetish. After Arithmancy came Ancient Runes, during which Hermione was practically asleep. She answered all the questions in a semi-conscious state, reciting what their textbook had said word for word. The day drew to a close and Hermione returned to the comfort of her room to get started on homework.

Hermione made her way through the chilling stone hallways, and upon reaching her room she sighed, remembering what had happened when she and Malfoy had 'chosen' their password.

"Why so glum sweetheart?" questioned Salazar Slytherin.

"Stupid password," mumbled Hermione.

"No need to be rude," remarked the miffed founder of the Slytherin House.

"I feel for you dear, really I do," interrupted Hestia Hufflepuff. "But you must give us the password, or we cannot let you in."

"Getthefuckoffmemalfoy," Hermione mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" asked Salazar, who knew perfectly well what Hermione had said but chose this very moment to annoy her.

"Get the fuck off me, Malfoy," annunciated Hermione, anger coursing through her veins.

"Very well then, in you go." The painting swung open after Salazar's last words and Hermione walked in to the sweet solace of her common room. Throwing her book bag on one couch and sat herself down next to it. Pulling out her potions textbook, a quill, and a piece of parchment, she completed six-inch summaries on each of the four potions she had been assigned to write about earlier that day. Next came charms, which was just practice. Seeing as how Hermione could practically do the assigned charms in her sleep, she put away her charms book and retrieved the arithmancy book from her bag. After a complicated timetable as well as a logic-based essay on the implications of exponential versus factorial time-turners she was able to focus on the translation of 4 pages in her ancient runes textbook. Hermione, satisfied in her completion of the day's assignments, went to her room to set her textbooks on her desk in preparation for her much anticipated study time. With her book bag resting comfortably on an arm-chair, she glanced at the clock and dashed off to the Great Hall for dinner.

Hermione was running, eager to get dinner over with and return to work, when she heard a distinct _smack_ and crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"Watch where you're going Granger."

"Now Malfoy, I know it's probably very difficult for you to get it through your tiny little _death-eating_ head, but it's Zabini. And I'm sure my big brother wouldn't approve of your cruel treatment of his darling sister." Her head now pounding from its collision with Malfoy's shoulder, Hermione did her best to beam innocently at the furious blonde boy who knew he was practically powerless against her if he wanted to keep Blaise as a friend. No amount of annoyance was enough to make him want to return to sole company of Crabbe and Goyle.

Hermione turned and walked away triumphantly, almost skipping in joy as she headed towards dinner.

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Hermione walked out of the Great Hall, half satisfied, half disgusted. Dinner was good as usual, but her company was slightly lacking. Ron was, as usual, devouring the food without a thought to his surroundings, but he was sitting right across from Lavender, who found the whole thing _charming_. In fact, in between Ron's gluttonous mouthfuls, she would comment on how cute Won Won was or something about growing boys needing their food.

Harry wasn't much better. He ate in an infinitely more civilized manner than Ron, that was for sure, but he couldn't stop making googly eyes at Ginny. They were acting so…lovey-dovey, so…_mushy_. It was gross. In Hermione's eyes there was nothing wrong with romance, but romance wasn't supposed to be all soft and sweet. It needed contrast, something to give it depth and levels. If all you're going to do with your significant other is stare at him/her in such a way that it created nausea among others, then what was the point?

Hermione was minding her own business, walking through the hallway when all of a sudden she heard someone call her name. Turning around, she noticed Seamus Finnigan behind running to catch up to her.

"So umm…Hermione," said Seamus, trying to act suave but failing miserably, "What's up?"

"Nothing much Seamus, just heading back to my dorm," Hermione chuckled awkwardly, trying to give him the hint to go away.

"So I was just wondering, if, maybe, you would want to go to Hogsmeade on Saturday?"

Hermione winced. She had feared this. She saw the way Seamus looked at her, it made her uncomfortable. Now that she had had her makeover of sorts, it was a bit disturbing.

"Sorry Seamus, but I'm umm…busy on Saturday."

"How about some other time then?"

"…Umm…Listen Seamus, I like you, I do, it's just, I like you as a friend, not like _that_."

"Oh…well, ok then. See you around." Seamus stalked of dejectedly, obviously not used to rejection.

Seamus wasn't bold enough, not exciting enough, for Hermione. Hermione wasn't one to be shallow, but Seamus was barely mildly attractive, if that. Plus, he wasn't exactly a dominant sort of fellow. If someone were to say, write a book, about Hogwarts, he wouldn't be the lead. Hermione needed a main character in her life, not someone who was casually mentioned for comic relief. Protagonist, Antagonist, good, bad, it didn't matter, but she needed someone who would be noticed, recognized even. That just wouldn't happen with Seamus.

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Draco couldn't believe it. Hermione Granger just up and ran into him. It was bad enough that now he couldn't blame it on her parentage, but she was so damn maniacal. She had Blaise wrapped around her little finger. It was a wonder she wasn't in Slytherin. Not that would have worked out anyway, it was bad enough there was no unity among the four houses, but to have the houses divided amongst themselves? That would be chaos. Well, it already was chaos, when you considered the fact that Slytherin was already divided. Draco tried his best to lead both sides, something that he was talented at. No matter whether your parents were for or against Voldemort, all of the Slytherins looked up to his stature in the community as _the_ sex god.

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Blaise smiled. Things were going well for him. He and Pansy were getting along smashingly and now he had a sister. The Slytherin in him had always wanted a little sister to torment. He decided he would do his best to assume the role of big brother that he had always wanted to play. He would take her under his wing, not that she really needed help. Her grades were better than his, no matter how hard he tried to get ahead. But he knew that she didn't have the magical childhood that he did. She had missed out on her first broom-ride, the bi-weekly trips with his father to Honeyduke's, all of the wizarding events that he had loved so much. He was going to give that to her, the opportunity to relive their childhood as it was meant to be.

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Hermione returned to her room, and after grudgingly repeated the password to the pleasure of the founder who was clad in silver and green, she was admitted to her common room. She laughed at how things had unfolded with Seamus. It really was quite funny. She thought about how something like that probably never would have happened to her before. But before what, exactly? Before the glamour char, was removed? Or before her the Grangers…passed. She was slowly coming to grips with their absence, but she still felt overwhelmingly sentimental. She knew they would miss out on some of the most important moments of her life. They had been there for so much. Her first bicycle ride, her first day of primary school, the day the owl delivered her Hogwarts letter. But they wouldn't be there for her graduation, her 18th birthday, and her first day of work at a real job. She walked into her closet after transfiguring the stool at her vanity into a ladder. She searched for a specific box. It was pink in color, adorned in glitter and metallic macaroni. 'Hermyonee' was spelled out on top. She recalled the day when she made the box. She was 3 years old, and she insisted on making it herself. She also refused help from her mother on how to spell her name, which, looking back, was a bit of a mistake. She chuckled. Hermione stepped down from the ladder, setting the box on her bed and opening the golden latch that held it shut. She removed from its depth a series of home movies that she and her parents had transferred onto DVD the summer before her fourth year. She remembered when they made popcorn in the open fire and decided to watch all their newly formatted home movies, reliving the warm memories.

Hermione had to face those memories again. She just had to. She felt as if she was starting to forget. In her heart, she knew that nothing could ever replace the Grangers, but at the same time she was afraid that she would allow the Zabinis to take their place. She took the DVDs into the common room. Rather than displaying her impressive levitation she skills, she opted instead to place the movies in the enchanted player herself. She conjured some of kernels and a kettle. Placing it over the open fire, she felt the warmth on her fingers as she heard the tiny pieces of corn begin to explode with a _pop_ that sounded almost like apparition. Reaching once again for the transfigured vase, Hermione emptied the contents of the warm kettle into it, reveling in the scent of freshly popped popcorn she had experienced so many times before with her parents.

The first film began to play. Her mother, the one that had raised her for some 16 years, sat beaming in a couch, while the voice of her father echoed in the camera's speaker. A toddler with cinnamon colored hair and rich brown eyes was pushing a stroller that held a baby doll. The toddler pushed the stroller away and walked eagerly to her mother, who instantly swept her up into a great big hug.

The scene changed. Instead of a small toddler a three-year-old girl was being led by her mother into the library. The video camera zoomed in as the small child looked in wonder at our surroundings. As her mother tried to lead her over into the children's section, the girl stubbornly refused; in turn she led her mother to the adventure section, where she picked up a book from the lowest section and threw it onto the floor, grinning as if to say _look at what I did!_ She picked up the book, which was upside down, opened it and began to pretend reading. The camera shifted back to the mother, who was looking on with a grin similar to her daughter's, as she ran over to hug the little girl.

The bookshelves of the library were soon replaced by the picket fences of a suburban street lined with trees. A six-year-old brunette whose hair was done into two braids sat on a purple bicycle. Hermione chuckled as she recalled that she never was a huge fan of pink. _I can do it Dad, I can!_ The man pushed the girl who looked as if she was flying. She practically sailed through the air, all the while remaining on the ground. Pedaling as fast she could and overcoming a bout of imbalance, the girl continued only to circle around back to her parents, grinning at her accomplishment.

It was Christmas. A large evergreen decorated with ornaments of every color of the rainbow and garlands of popcorn and dried berries provided the backdrop to a smiling girl in red and green pajamas. She was unwrapping a set of what appeared to be books and-

Hermione was too engrossed in her home films to hear the portrait swing open. Draco walked into the common room and saw Hermione sitting in a pair of red sweatpants and a white tank top. Her hair was piled in a messy bun, and while she didn't look glamorous she still looked very beautiful. He watched silently as he admired her, temporarily forgetting to put up his façade of disgust he usually used around the head girl. She was watching something on the…what was it…vellytision? He saw a cheerful young girl nd two loving parents. He felt the teensiest bit of remorse as he watched the little girl experience something that his childhood lacked-joy. He accidentally moved, his shoe accidentally tapping the stone floor, alerting her to his presence. Before she could get a word in, he sneered.

"What's that Granger?" he wrinkled his noise. "Some kind of stupid muggle film? How stupid."

He saw something glisten on her cheek. She didn't want him to see her like this. She was undoubtedly vulnerable. She quickly raised her hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. He noticed. She had been crying. He didn't do crying, in fact, he never knew how to act around it. It just seemed so weird, so emotional. If there was anything Draco was not, it was emotional.

"Fuck off, Malfoy."

"Why Granger? Crying because your muggle parents don't love you?"

She felt the fury set in. "I said FUCK OFF Malfoy. You are the most bloody insufferable GIT. Do you know when to quit? Who the fuck made you this way, you're…just…Hermione didn't have the energy to continue yelling at Malfoy, she couldn't take it. Grabbing her wand and sticking it in her pocket, she ran out the door of the common room and in to the hallway, still wearing her red cotton sweatpants and fitted white tank top.

One of the figures in their portrait gave a low whistle. "You've done it now boy," commented Godric Gryffindor.

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AN: So ends chapter 10, which is my longest chapter yet. Please let me know if I slip-up, It's difficult for me to keep track of what I write. Also, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Drat, my plans have been foiled, and I still don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 11**

Hermione had absolutely no idea where to go. She could easily go to the Gryffindor common room, but she had a feeling that she wouldn't quite fit in there. It was the first Monday night of the term the Gryffindor commons and you know what that means—party time. That Hogwarts' bravest house was just has chaste as they were courageous was a common misconception in the wizarding world. This party was tradition. Twice a year, the more socially active Gryffs would put together this little soiree. Since it's inception (a.k.a. the year when James Potter and the Marauders learned that a little fun with the opposite sex was never a bad thing) Gryffindor's social elite would ask the house elves (The whole Dobby complex wasn't new, as it turned out. Do anything nice for a house-elf and they're just as sweet as can be) to provide some chips, and light snacks, and of course, alcohol. Hermione decided that she didn't need to see her friends raging drunk and making out with their girlfriends and therefore removed the location from her list. That left one place. Her last resort. She wasn't even 100 sure where it was, because she hadn't started patrol yet and had never needed to visit there otherwise.

Hermione was running down the haul while tears still visibly stained her face. She got quite a few funny looks, apparently sweatpants had yet to catch on in the wizarding world. She just kept running, running, running, going down, down, down, into the depths of the castle. Finally, she arrived. She pounded on the stonewall where the door was supposed to be, hoping that there was some kind of charm that would alert the occupants of the common room to her presence.

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Pansy was a bit miffed, to say the least. There she was, enjoying a lovely snog with Blaise, when all of a sudden she heard a knock on the hidden door of the common room. She groaned. Getting up, she stalked over to the doorway, annunciating each step with a heavy _stomp_ and waved her arm as if to exit. The stonewall slid open to the right and all Pansy saw was the girl she used to make terrible fun of, crying her eyes out.

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Hermione was aware of how she must have looked to the brunette who opened the door. Pathetic Gryffindor, showing her true colors because in reality she doesn't have a speck of bravery. Pansy, however, felt for the girl. She had never seen Hermione cry, having been absent from that episode at the Yule Ball due to an impromptu make out session with Theodore Nott. Even had she not felt the desire to help Hermione at this very moment, despite how much she would have wanted Hermione to be caught in despair even a Slytherin didn't want to kick people when they were down. But Pansy had been in similar situations, although she had never gone so far as to go running to the Gryffindor common room, what a sight that would have been. Plus she was her boyfriend's sister, so getting on her bad side (again) was really not an option.

Pansy stepped out of the common room, putting her arm around the crying girl and ushering her back inside. Blaise wasn't sure who she was at first, having only seen his sister in her school uniform, but as soon as he did he stood up and rushed over to Hermione and Pansy.

"…Hermione…what happened? " asked her brother.

Blaise and Pansy ushered her onto a comfortable leather couch (yes, the Slytherin common room really did look like an episode of Cribs). Hermione mustered up some courage and dried her tears as best she could with the goal of not sounding like a completely desperate basket case when she said her piece.

"Well, I was watching some home videos, from when I was little, you know? I just felt…nostalgic, like I was starting to forget the Grangers, and I didn't want that."

Pansy looked at Blaise with a puzzled look. The Zabinis were the only ones at Hogwarts who knew of her parents' death. Blaise hugged Hermione, mouthing 'later' to Pansy in order to spare his sister the pain of retelling the tragic tale. "And then Draco came in and he…"

Uh oh. When a girl in tears references Draco in a story it's generally not a good thing.

"He asked me what I was watching…called it stupid…saw me crying…asked me…muggle parents…didn't love me." By this point Hermione had stopped trying to conceal everything and let the tears flow freely. Blaise was angry. Very angry. Of course Draco was a jerk. Always had been, probably always would be. It wasn't like Hermione to break down like this, but he knew firsthand that the stress of living with Draco could make the strongest person break down.

Blaise's face was getting redder and his eyes seemed to turn to stone.

'Hermione, why don't you stay here. Pansy and I are going to go have a little 'talk' with someone. We'll be right back, I promise." With a wave of her brother's wand Hermione felt a calmness wash over her as she settled into a light sleep.

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"Pansy, I don't know if Hermione wants me to tell you this, but after what just happened you have a right to know," said Blaise after he and Pansy had left the common room, heading towards the Head dorms. "Over this summer, there was an attack."

Attack. Pansy knew, in times such as these, the word attack carried a heavy weight.

"Some death eaters, they had a target. They invaded a muggle home in the suburbs. They killed the Grangers, and left Hermione for dead."

"Oh my god." Everything became clearer to Pansy. She knew what Hermione felt. She had lost her mother in one of these attacks; only this time her abusive twat of a father was the one that led it. No one should have to go through that. Ever. Pansy felt her boyfriend's anger. She too, knew of Draco's exploits as Slytherin sex god, but more importantly, as Hogwarts' resident git. She ground her teeth together in fury and a cold expression washed over her face. Her eyes were duller, harder, her mouth set in a firm line.

They raced to the head dorms. After correcting for a few wrong turns, they had finally arrived. They saw a large portrait of four people, two men an two women. Both the men were asleep, empty plates in front of them indicating that their comatose state was probably due to the enormous amounts of food they had just eaten. A woman in blue and bronze sat by a fire, reading, and another woman in black and yellow discarded her stitching to approach Pansy and Blaise.

"Oh Hello dears," comforted the founder of the Hufflepuff house. "I take it you're here about what that nasty boy said? You're her brother, correct? Gossip travels fast among us portraits you know. Well, just this once, I'll let you in without the password. Someone needs to give that boy a good stern talking too. Good luck."

The portrait swung open, revealing a very tastefully decorated common room and a blonde boy sitting on the couch. On the inside, Draco was slightly puzzled by the events that had just occurred, as he was definitely not expecting that outcome. At the most he thought Granger would give some snarky comment and go back to her room in a huff, but no, she had to bust out of the blasted place crying didn't she. On the outside, however, Draco did nothing to show his confused state.

"What the hell mate?!" demanded Blaise. "What did you do to her!"

"I didn't do anything, she just got all riled up, that's all."

"Riled up?" demanded Pansy. "You call running to the Slytherin common room in tears, _riled up?_"

Draco was very afraid of Pansy. Pansy was controlling, manipulative; hell she was practically the female Salazar Slytherin incarnate. Rather than following his instincts, which told him to back away slowly and not to anger the brunette anymore than she already he was, Draco puffed up his chest and held his position.

"Just a few tears, no big deal, she'll get over it."

"Draco, my little sister just came to the common room crying her eyes out. She went to the Slytherin common room, because she was _that_ upset. I may not have known her for very long, but don't think for a second that I won't beat you up just because you've been my best friend for longer than I've known her."

Draco was slightly crestfallen, this was something he had never considered. Pansy was proud of Blaise, he had never really stood up to Draco, and it was about time he did.

"You just couldn't shut your mouth, could you Draco? Can you even see what the lack of emotion in your house has done to you? It's like you feel nothing!"

Draco recoiled at his best friend's words. _It's like you feel nothing_. No, Draco felt. It was Lucius who was devoid of all emotion, and Draco would not turn into his father, he just wouldn't.

"Do you even have the slightest idea what was going on Draco? She was watching a video of her and her parents. Not my mom and dad, but the Grangers. Those muggles you've already shown yourself to be so fond of." Blaise's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he abandoned his basic reasoning skills and allowed the anger to overtake him. "And the Grangers, do you know what happened to them, do you? The Grangers were attacked. The Grangers, who had never been remotely involved in the wizarding world aside from raising Hermione to be the brightest witch of her age, were attacked by death eaters."

Draco's face went pale. Paler than it already was. Death eaters. If there was one thing death eaters meant, it meant that-

"Who do you think was leading those death eaters Draco? WHO? WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK WAS LEADING THEM?"

Oh god.

"YOUR BLOODY FATHER KILLED MY SISTER'S PARENTS. The Grangers are DEAD Draco, D-E-A-D, **DEAD**. You just had to go, bringing up all those bad memories, because you can't help yourself. You can't resist, can you? Getting revenge on her and Potter, for all those years they bested you, showed themselves better in every way, and you just couldn't help yourself."

Blaise's voice had softened. "What happened Draco? What happened? You know what—I don't even care. Come on Pans, we're leaving this sick bastard."

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So ends chapter 11. Sorry it was shorter than usual, now I have to figure out how to recover from all the drama that just happened with this chapter, but rest assured I'll try and make it a bit lighter in the coming chapters.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

**Chapter 12**

"Sorry for acting so out of character guys," apologized Hermione. "It's not like me to break down in tears or anything, it's just that stupid git is one big ass-"

"Don't worry 'bout it sis, if there's anyone who knows just how insufferable Draco can be, it's me and Pans."

Hermione, Blaise, and Pansy continued their conversation that had started upon the return of the Slytherin girl and her boyfriend from their little 'chat' with Draco. Even though the pair was confident that the blonde wouldn't be a problem for Hermione, they extended the offer for her to stay in the spare bed in Pansy's room. Being a prefect did have its perks, after all, no matter what house you were in.

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What hat happened? Draco wondered all this and more, after the exchange he had just been victimized by. Well not victimized, but that's how he saw it. Pfft, what happened indeed. Draco was _always_ like this, Blaise and Pansy knew that. He felt bad though. While not a first, it didn't happen often. Draco had a conscience; he was able to feel guilt. Well, sometimes at least. Like when he had painted Blaise's face blue after he made fun of Draco's hair. He felt bad about that, I mean the boy had to go on his second date with Pansy looking like a smurf. OK, so Draco didn't feel guilty about that one so much as all the laughing he had done gave him rock-hard abs.

Draco's mind got off track. What would've happened if he had shrunken Blaise and let his cat chase him be chased around by Mrs. Norris? Better yet Filch could have tried to eat him. "Damn it Draco," he thought to himself. "Why didn't you think of that before?"

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"Don't get mad—get even." This was Hermione's new mantra. Blaise and Pansy were right, Draco really was an insufferable git. And she was sure that had he known he wouldn't have said those things. Well, probably not. Ok maybe, but Hermione always looked for the best in people. Potential goodness aside, Draco had to pay.

Hermione needed a plan. Now that she knew about the Zabini blood ran through her veins, it was time to put some of that good old Slytherin cunning to good use. She thought about it carefully. Draco was at the top at Hogwarts. Well, he was the second best student, but aside from that, he was the most, socially and sexually active kid at Hogwarts. If her time at primary school had taught her anything, it was that what goes up must come down.

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"Potter!" called Blaise, as he knocked on the wall next to the portrait that led to the Gryffindor common room. "Something happened with Hermione!"

"Within seconds the door was opened. Harry looked frantic, worried. He knew that putting the two most reactive people at Hogwarts in the same suite would never be a good idea.

"It's about Draco he-" Harry was already turning red, anger rising inside of him. "He made fun of Hermione's parents. Not the Zabinis, the Grangers. She was watching some movies and tearing up, and he came in and he teased her relentlessly."

"But Draco always does that," explained Harry. "For the past six years it's been nothing but mudblood this, mudblood that. Always making fun of them, I know you want to protect her but this is nothing new."

"Oh god, she didn't tell you?" asked Blaise,

"Tell me what?" asked Harry, with urgency in his intonation.

"You didn't notice anything different about her this year? When she came on the train?"

"Well she wasn't smiling as much, but I figured that she was just a little down and about not getting her reading fix or something…"

Blaise balked at this comment. If it were under any other pretense he would have left. "Potter, I don't know if Hermione wants me to tell you this, but since she's in no state to do it right now I guess I'll have to do it for her. Save her from as much idiocy as possible I suppose. Something happened this summer. There was an attack, at her house."

"But Hermione's ok right? I mean she's still here, she looks physically healthy and-"

"Physically, she's fine, fit as a fiddle. Mentally is a different story. The attack, it was death eaters, a group of them."

Death eaters. Harry knew what this meant. He slowly put the pieces together in his head. Where the death eaters went, there were always lost lives in the wake. Hermione was, to their knowledge, a muggleborns. Death eaters at the house of a muggle could only mean-

"Oh god," said Harry. "They died, didn't they? That's why she's been so hollow, so empty…"

"Yes. Lucius Malfoy and some of the members of the inner circle invaded the home, killing Mr. and Mrs. Granger."

"I have to…she needs our help…where is she?"

"Leave her alone for know," advised Blaise. "She needs your support when we can't be there for her. I know, we've only been in her life for less than a week, but we're doing what we can to help, and you've been her friend since first year. Please, help her, but for now, let her be. Just, pay a little more attention. I know you have your own life, but I can't say that she isn't disappointed none of you noticed anything."

"I will," confirmed Harry.

"And don't tell anyone I came here, especially Hermione. I don't know what will happen to me if she finds out I came here, she'll probably give me a lecture on how she doesn't need her big brother to fight her battles and then make me write a 14 inch essay on why she fend for herself. Yikes. As for everyone else, well, I've got my Slytherin bastard reputation to uphold."

Harry chuckled as Blaise calmly walked away.

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AN: Short chapter, I know, I'm sorry. I just wanted to let you all know I'm alive ) This was probably one of the most awkward chapters to write as well. I dug myself a bit to deep with that super-dramatic scene, so now I'm trying to come out of it and get back into the comedy of it all, so hopefully you'll see a gradual return to the lighter side of things in the next chapter. Thanks for reading/reviewing/everything!


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Please ignore the intense load of grammatical errors in the last chapter. I was half asleep when I wrote it, and just wanted to let you all know that I wasn't dead. I've had exams for the past few days, and I have another one tomorrow but it's physics so its not too bad. I can't say this enough but this chapter probably has a few inconsistencies, so forgive me if I skip days of the week and whatnot, I'm so forgetful about that sort of stuff.

**Disclaimer**: If my bank account is any indication, I can safely assure you that I most definitely do not own Harry Potter.

Last time on OVCH

-Draco missed an opportunity to make Blaise look like a smurf

-Hermione decides to get even

-Harry learns Hermione's secret

**Chapter 13**

"So I told Potter," Blaise told Pansy.

"Good, he needed to know," she admitted.

"Should we go find her? You think she's had enough time?"

"Yep. Now's just about right. Besides, she's not the type to grieve forever over something Malfoy does. Plus we might as well plan something to cheer her up this weekend. Maybe out to Hogsmeade or something like that?"

"Sounds perfet. Shall we?" asked Blaise, holding out his arm for his girlfriend.

"We shall."

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Blaise and Pansy walked to the portrait of the four founders.

"How are you too lovebirds doing today?" asked Gryffindor.

"Fine thanks. I take it you've heard what happened?" replied Blaise.

"Oh yes," said Hufflepuff. "That nice dog from the painting down the hall told us. It was a bit difficult to understand him, but I'm pretty sure we got the gist of it. Something about lots of yelling, some tears, a dumb blonde, and being late for a poker game with a spaniel."

"It's terrible," said Rowena. "I don't understand how that boy can be so bright yet so insensitive."

"That's Draco for you," supplied Pansy.

Blaise moved to knock on the frame of the portrait and ask Hermione to let him inside, but a deep voice interceded.

"No need for that boy," said Slytherin. "We'll see if she wants you inside. Nifty little thing Dumbledore whipped up, we have another portrait inside the room. Kind of like a two-way mirror I guess, and quite fun."

"Thanks."

Slytherin walked off the frame only to walk back in moments later.

"All clear." The portrait swung open for Pansy and Blaise to enter. And enter they did, only to find Hermione pouring over a pile of papers with four large volumes scattered around her.

When Hermione saw that Blaise and Pansy had entered she got up and ran to hug her brother, a smile on her face.

"Thank you for helping me," said Hermione. "And thank you for telling Draco off. It's very much appreciated."

"You heard about that?"

"The founders told me. I have a feeling I'm going to be a lot more up to date with the castle gossip this year."

"So you're not mad at me for telling him? For fighting your battles?"

"Nah."

"So you won't mind if I told Potter too?"

"You WHAT?!"

Blaise ducked and moved his arms in front of his head, preparing for a blow. "I…I….I…," he started.

"Gotcha."

Pansy started laughing. The image was just two funny. There was Blaise, 6'3" cowering in front of his little sister, who was a good half a foot shorter. Life was good.

"Not funny."

This just made Pansy laugh more.

"So I've been thinking. I've got to get Draco back for what he did. What I need to know is, are you two on board?"

"Hell yes," Blaise and Pansy replied in unison.

"Excellent. Now this whole revenge thing, it's a bit new to me, so I'm going to need your help. You two have had six years of practice, I've been a bloody Gryffy two shoes. Now here's what I've been thinking…"

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Draco paced in his room. Damn. He should have realized this before. It's Blaise. Of course he'll be up to something. And knowing Blaise it would be completely unpredictable. Damn.

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"Now let's take a look at what Draco has." Hermione picked up her wand from the table and began writing in the air.

"Number one. His army of skanks. No offense Pansy."

"Hey, I'm not dating him anymore! I finally wised up and got myself a real man." Pansy shot a seductive look at Blaise who was only too eager to shoot one back.

"Ew. I did not need to hear that. Or see that. Or be remotely near that."

Hermione went unnoticed. Pansy's remark had just put them in a downward spiral. She could no more. Hermione turned and headed for the door. As soon as her back was turned Blaise lunged at Pansy.

"At least wait until I'm out of the room."

"Sorry," Pansy giggled. Blaise gave a nervous chuckle. "Sorry"

The second the portrait swung shot Blaise was on Pansy like she was a veela.

"Gross."

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Hermione walked through the corridors to the Gryffindor common room. She caught a staircase but just as she hopped on it rotated, forcing her to take the long way around to the next one. Hermione turned the corner only to face a sight similar to the one she had just left. Two sixth years were going at it.

"For the love of Merlin. You two, break it up! 10 points from-" Hermione squinted to look at the crest on their sweaters, "Ravenclaw. Each. Go on, off you go." The boy led the girl up the staircase hurriedly in the direction of Ravenclaw tower. Miffed, Hermione clomped on the stone floor and trudged up the staircase. She stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Budundleshanks," muttered Hermione.

The Fat Lady's portrait swung open, much to Hermione's satisfaction. She wasn't in the mood to see one of American Idol's worst potential contestants today.

The Gryffindor common was a bit warm for her taste, having gotten used to the cooler temperature of the Heads common room. But the rest of the room was as cozy as ever, and Hermione missed the warmly hued décor. She felt like she could just snuggle up on the couch with a good book and read forever. She couldn't help but notice two bodies doing their fair share of 'snuggling' on a couch in the corner.

"IS EVERYONE IN THIS FUCKING CASTLE HORNY?" screamed Hermione. With a start the redheaded boy and the blonde girl separated and turned to put a name to the voice. But one of them was pretty sure he already knew who it was. Ron started to blush until his face had taken on the hue of a tomato as he faced Hermione.

"Umm…sorry Hermione," he said, sheepishly, as he scratched behind his head.

"I'll just be going upstairs now," giggled Lavender. "Coming Won Won?"

"I'd better uhh..yeahhh…" Ron followed his girlfriend up the stairs. At this point Hermione was extremely glad she'd gotten over her obsession. From the looks of it, Ron wasn't a very good kisser. Either that or Lavender enjoyed having her face mauled off.

Ginny, looking slightly disheveled, sauntered down the stairs that led to the sixth year boys dorm and saw Hermione. "What's all the noise?" she questioned. She saw Ron and Lavender just as they headed into the seventh year boys dorm and quickly retracted the question. Just then Harry came down the same stairs Ginny had descended earlier, his shirt half untucked and his tie at an odd angle. Hermione did a double take, hoping that her mind was playing tricks on her and that her ability to put two and two together was fading. No such like. When Hermione looked at Harry he had the same sheepish grin on his face that Ron did. Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"Oh god. I'm pretty sure I am the only female in the castle that does not have a boyfriend. I'll probably turn into McGonagall and just live with my cats for the rest of my life."

"I've always felt that getting Crookshanks was rather spontaneous of you. I think you're much more of a dog person," remarked Harry.

"Thanks for your confidence in my love like, Harry."

"Any time Hermione." He grinned.

"So what brings you here tonight Hermione?" asked Ginny.

"Pansy and my brother decided they were just too randy and are currently involved in an impromptu makeout session on my couch."

Ginny grimaced and gave exhaled sharply. "Yikes."

"So of course, in a twist of fate that can only happen to me, who else do I walk in on but Won Won and Lav Lav. This of course, is after I just so happen to see two sixth years groping each other by the West corridor. Next thing you know I'll be walking in on Snape and Madame Pomfrey filming softcore porn in the room of requirement or something equally disturbing."

"Double yikes," said Ginny, as Harry blanched at Hermione's thoughts.

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And so ends chapter 13. I've been struggling with a bit of writer's block, so if you have any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them! After my exams are over I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on Monday, so I don't know if I'll be able to update or not, but I'll try.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Sorry for all the grammar errors! I tried to edit the doc but couldn't do it in Safari and I was too lazy to upload a new one-Sorry. I meant luck and life when I said like those two times, and there are a couple more errors from my editing and whatnot so I'm really sorry about that / Anyways, exams are over, so yay!

Also, pretend Blaise told Harry about it the next day or whatever, while they waited for Hermione to cool off. This is all going on on Saturday, as a replacement of sorts for the trip they were going to take.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 14**

There was a bit of an awkward pause while the girls waited for the color to return to Harry's face.

"I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life. The whole Voldemort mind-connection thing? Not nearly as scary as _that_," said Harry, shivering in disgust.

"Aww don't worry sweetheart I'll make sure that those big nasty dreams don't scare the ikle-wickle boy who lived," cooed Ginny.

"Anyways," said Hermione, "I've decided I need to get Draco back."

"Why would you want to-," started Harry. "Oh, yeah." There was a flash of compassion in Harry's eyes. He motioned towards Ginny. "Is it okay if she knows?"

"Umm…yeah, I guess. I mean everyone's going to find out sooner or later right?" Hermione gave a nervous laugh and the sadness returned to her eyes.

"What's going on?" asked Ginny. Harry pulled her aside while Hermione sat awkwardly on the couch. Hermione looked on as Harry put his hand on Ginny's shoulder, calmly explaining to her what Blaise had told him earlier. Harry was affectionate, kind. That's what Hermione wanted. Someone to hold her, to tell her that everything was going to be alright. And preferably someone that wasn't related to her. She'd had enough potential incest to last a lifetime. When Harry had finished Ginny ran over, her eyes glossy, and she tackled Hermione, who was lost in thought and jumped in surprise.

"Why didn't you tell us?!" she demanded.

"You all just seemed to caught up in your lives. And with everything that's bound to happen this year, I didn't want to be the one to bring you down."

"We're never to busy for you Hermione," said Harry. "When it comes down to it you're still my best friend. It's not as if I can go and ask Ron for help when Ginny gets mad at me." Ginny smacked Harry sharply on the shoulder. "I mean when Ginny is an absolutely perfect angel who I am not worthy of," Harry quickly corrected.

"Nice save," said Hermione.

"Malfoy is a right git. I ought to go and hex his arse to Timbuktu this instant. Any special requests?" Ginny began to get up but Hermione grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"No, no, no, I don't want to confront him, not physically anyway. I want to attack him, mentally, put him in a position of weakness."

"Ooh I like that idea better," Ginny eagerly agreed.

"But I have no idea what to do. Blaise and Pansy were going to help me, but that's when they started to erm-attack each other, so I had to make a quick getaway."

"I've got it! You'll seduce him!"

"What now?"

It took a moment for it to register, but a few seconds later Harry jumped off of the couch. "Nobody is seducing anybody!"

"Au contraire mon petit ami," said Ginny. "Au contraire."

"Ginny, you're forgetting one very important thing. I don't _want_ to seduce Malfoy."

"Well we all have to make sacrifices. It's not a terrible job either. You could've had to seduce Crabbe or Goyle. Now that's a nightmare."

"But why do I have to seduce him? Isn't there some other way to destroy him from the inside out? I mean what exactly would seducing him do anyways?"

"Once you do it puts you in control. Not to mention he'll probably have a psychological breakdown at the thought of being tempted by you. You may be a pureblood now but you're still the same Hermione that beats him in all his classes."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks Ginny. You have no idea how much I needed to hear that."

"Any time."

"I still don't think this is a very good idea," said Harry. "It's Malfoy, Hermione! You'd have to seduce him!"

Hermione patted Harry on the back. "Ginny's right, Harry. It's for the greater good."

"Hermione," said Ginny. "Why don't you go and get Blaise and Pansy? Meet us in the room of requirement in 20 minutes? We've got some plans to make." Ginny grinned evilly, rubbing her hands together with a malicious gleam in her eye. Harry gulped and sat back down on the sofa, looking nervous and slightly scared of his girlfriend.

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Hermione sprinted through the castle until she got back to the familiar portrait. "Do you think one of you could check on them?" Hermione asked of the four founders. "I really don't want to walk in on another couple again today."

"Of course dear," said Hufflepuff. She walked out of the frame of the portrait and returned to sit peacefully on the yellow chair. "All clear."

"Thanks!" Hermione grumbled the password, still wishing she didn't have to wait for the month to be over to change it. She stepped inside the room to see Blaise and Pansy sitting on the couch. He was reading a book and she had relaxed into a comfortable position at his side.

"Ginny wants to see you two in the room of requirement now. We've got some plans to make. Let's go, cuddlebunnies."

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"So I've been doing some thinking," started Ginny. "And am now even further convinced that my plan is the best. All in favor, please raise your hand." No one did.

"Wait—what _is_ your plan?" asked Blaise.

"Oh that's right. Hermione told us about your little get together. Keep it in your pants Zabini, she was disgusted." Hermione looked around the room nervously, and began to whistle, keeping her eyes firmly on the ceiling.

"Ginny, to be fair we were doing the same thi-"

"Shut it Potter!" Ginny interrupted. "Now, as I was saying. The plan. Hermione will seduce Malfoy, leaving him vulnerable to just about anything." Pansy was looking at Ginny, nodding her head intently as if to say, "Yes, yes, go on."

"What?" yelled Blaise. "Nobody is seducing anybody! My baby sister especially!"

"It's not like were pimping her out Zabini, pipe down," said Ginny. "A bit of snogging, some shorter shorter skirts and another button on her oxford is all it will take." Blaise was seething. He did not approve of this plan one bit.

"Are you sure this is the best of ideas Ginny? I mean no one will buy it for one second that I've suddenly decided to become a slut. It's about as likely as me dying my hair black to be 'different' or being madly in love with Snape."

"Hermione, you and I have very different definitions of the word slut," Ginny said. "But yes, it is the best idea, because it's mine. I may not be a know-it-all but I know tons about boys. I grew up in a house full of them for godsakes. If want to prank him hard, make him feel like an idiot, we need to make him want you."

"I completely agree," said Pansy, glaring at her boyfriend as Ginny did the same.

Harry and Blaise simply hung their heads in defeat, asking in unison, "What do we have to do?"

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10 Minutes Later:

"So are we clear? Blaise will invite Draco over to stay with him and Hermione for the break and Operation Seduce and Manipulate, otherwise known as Operation S&M will begin in December just before the ball. So Hermione, limit your interaction with Malfoy as not to draw attention." 

"Got it," said Hermione. "Hopefully I'll be able to avoid him running into me in the shower again. Malfoy seeing me in my underwear, now that was awkward."

"He WHAT?" demanded Harry and Blaise, again in unison. It was becoming quite clear that they were practically the same person each day.

"Umm—nothing?"

"Well know that that's settled," said Ginny, trying to change the subject before it was even remotely discussed, "you boys can clear out. Pansy and I have some making over to do. Go on, shoo!"

Harry and Blaise walked out the door dejectedly, but not before they saw a nervous Hermione, wide-eyed and afraid of what was too come.

Inside the room of requirement Pansy and Ginny were hard at work. One quick accio and Hermione's wardrobe was flown into the room, each perfectly hung piece occupying one of the many clothing racks the room had provided specifically for this purpose.

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In the hallway, Harry and Blaise were milling about, waiting for the girls to be done.

As if out of nowhere, Blaise felt something whack him in the face. He looked around for the culprit and just as he demanded, "Who did that?!" he was hit again except this time he fell down on his butt. Harry was cracking up, doubled over in laughter, when he was hit from behind and fell flat on his face.

Blaise, who was on the floor and safe from what the boys realized were flying garments of clothing was bringing new meaning to the acronym ROTFL.

"That's not funny!" protested Harry. Blaise didn't stop.

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One of the two racks in the room was occupied entirely by Hogwarts attire: gray skirts, some pleated, some pencil, and some a-line. White oxfords, all seemingly unisex based on their lack of darting and boxy shoulders. Black sweaters, most of which were either too pilled, too scratchy, or too small. And of course, an array of Gryffindor ties, scarves, and gloves hung neatly with matching robes for all types of weather.

Pansy and Ginny frowned at the rack of uniforms and turned around, their expressions slowly changing from those if disappointment to glee. What they saw was astounding. Two racks full of muggle clothing. All were quality pieces, but nothing was overtly labeled or ostentatious. Solid items were more prevalent than patterned pieces, but hung neatly in ever possible style an color of the rainbow. There were babydolls and tunics, long sleeved, short sleeved, and sleeveless. There were fitted thermals, comfy looking v-necks, and the widest array of sweaters and sweatshirts the girls had ever seen. There were jeans, both skinny and bootcut in dark washes, as well as shorts and a variety of mini skirts that were still quite long. There were also a variety of sweatpants that were excellent for the whole 'I'm in my pajamas but still incredibly hot' look. The piece de la resistance was Hermione's shoe collection. None of it was extremely sexy looking, but it consisted of several well-made pairs of rounded-toe pumps and ballet flats in different colors and styles.

Pansy and Ginny immediately began scouring the racks, examining the pieces that called to them. Hermione smiled as she heard things like, "Can I borrow this?" and "This is amazing!" She nodded, until a few minutes later the whole thing was getting a little tiring. Hermione coughed, trying to remind the girls of why she was being held here against her will.

"Oh that's right!" said Ginny.

"Sorry, we just got a little caught up," admitted Pansy. "Where did you get all of this?" she motioned her arms to the bright expanse of garments before her.

"Shopping was a really great distraction," Hermione admitted, her voice tinged with sadness.

"Oh…yeah." Both girls fell silent, feeling badly for bringing it up. But they wanted to make this afternoon a positive experience for her.

"Anyways, makeover time! You're already gorgeous, so there's really not much we need to do."

"But since Draco sees you pretty much solely in your school clothing, we figure it could use a little spicing up," said the brunette.

"We like what you've done with it so far, but I think it's time to go a little further," said Ginny.

Realizing that nothing was going to stop these two, Hermione just shrugged her shoulders and watched as Pansy and Ginny went to work on her uniform. Some hems were raised a couple of inches as pencil skirts were transformed into minis that hit well above the knee but remained conservative, button-downs were made more fitted and petite. Black sweaters were refreshed and made softer, their cuts more feminine and their fabrics more smooth. Since there wasn't much that could be done with the robes, the girls made them slightly more tailored and left the Gryffindor accessories as they were. Besides, those scarves were downright adorable. The shoes were left alone as well, and because of all the walking Hermione had to do her simple yet stylish ballet flats were heartily approved.

"Now, considering we haven't heard any rumors about granny panties floating around the castle, your knickers are probably all adequate for seduction," said Ginny, as if that was something you told someone every day.

For the finishes touches Pansy and Ginny approached Hermione menacingly, forcing her to back up and onto the chair that conveniently prevented her fall. Hermione landed with an 'oomph' and continued her attempts to move backwards.

"The hair is gorgeous," said Ginny. "Don't ever straighten the waves. Except maybe, hmm…" She flicked her wand and a lock of long hair fell to the ground in front of Hermione's face. Ginny had created a sweeping side fringe that was perfect for Hermione's face shape.

"That looks great!" said Pansy. "Are you a nail biter?" She asked.

"It's always been a habit of mine, ever since I was in primary school. We had our first graded assignment, and I was quite nervous, so I-"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Typical Hermione."

"Hey!"

"Well it is!" Ginny said, laughing.

"This simply won't do then. Pansy conjured a bottle of nail lacquer, and a manicure kit, using her wand to put it to work to file and paint Hermione's fingers and toes. "There, now you won't bite them." Pansy smiled, proud of what she had done.

"You're beautiful without makeup," said Ginny, "so all you really need is a swipe of mascara if you want to get dressed up, maybe some eyeliner if you're feeling really fancy, but it's a bit pointless for everyday." Hermione nodded, taking it all in.

"Flawless cheekbones," agreed Pansy. "Oh, and before I forget," said Pansy, waving her wand.

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Back in the hallway, Harry and Blaise helped each other up and dusted themselves off. All of a sudden a bright turquoise bottle hit Harry and an orange and white one hit Blaise. They fell to the floor again, this time in pain, for they had been hit in the head.

Blaise moaned. "Make it stop Harry, make it stop."

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"Just some hair products, nothing to heavy. The blue one's a frizz-serum for bad hair days and this one is a deep conditioner. It smells like pumpkin! So yummy. They're muggle products too! I never did like wizarding ones, they've never gotten the formulas quite right," said Pansy.

"Thanks Pansy," said Hermione.

"Oh, and you'll be needing a dress for the ball right? Here—"

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Cradling his head, Harry finally stood up, only to be knocked back down by a sea of black fabric traveling at a ferociously high speed. "I hate girls."

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"You can wear this. I'll never wear it. I have a zillion others still in my closet. Father always had his mistress of the moment get them for me all of those stupid formal events where he would try to find me some balding death eater for a husband. Plus, we missed today's trip to Hogsmeade and if you tried to get a dress next one it would be an absolute nightmare, with the ball coming up an everything," Pansy rationalized.

The dress was the darkest black, cut in a strapless style with a banded empire waist and classic a-line skirt that reached Hermione knees. It was decided that she would wear it with a pair of azur patent pumps Hermione already owned.

"Thank you so much you guys," said Hermione, hugging her best friends. "Even if I'm not crazy about dressing so….provocatively-" Pansy and Ginny snickered, "I really appreciate all that you've done. My closet is always opening whenever you need anything at all."

"Score!" exclaimed the two girls, as they high fived each other.

"I guess we're done in here," said Ginny. "Let's clean up."

The girls took out their wands, and with a flick here, a swish there, and liberal use of the organization charm they were able to return everything to its proper place in Hermione's room.

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When the girls left the room of requirement, they found Harry and Blaise, writhing on the floor and moaning in pain, even though they didn't appear to have any injuries, save for what looked like two nasty bumps on the noggin. Both were moaning something that sounded an awful lot like, "No…no…not the clothes…anything but the flying clothes…."

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AN: So ends chapter 14. I get my wisdom teeth out tomorrow, so I hope to update on Tuesday!


	15. Chapter 15

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! My wisdom teeth ended up bugging me a lot. I was reading the reviews for this one fic though, and someone wrote something about the accepted names for Hermione's family. So, unless I'm missing something it made me laugh. P Anyways, thank you for all the reviews!! I really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. There's a shocker for you.

**Chapter 15**

The rest of September passed rather uneventfully as did most of October. The Scotland air cooled and students packed up their lightweight summer cloaks and sweaters in favor of heavier, warmer, ones. The girls decided that since Hermione would be spending the holidays with her biological family, that it would be better to put Operation S&M on hold. Even though Ginny had already finished her O.W.L. exams, Pansy and Hermione still had the N.E.W.T. exams looming over their heads. Pansy didn't really care that much at this point, but Hermione was already putting the finishing touches on her study schedule.

Draco had gotten no better, no worse. He was still a pig, but managed to put the incident with Blaise behind him and the two recovered their friendship. Desiring to keep it that way, Draco limited his interaction with Hermione. He avoided using the bathroom at the same time, did not speak to her unless he was spoken too, and even opted to ride to forgo some of his head boy perks if it meant that she would be there too. The Halloween party was easy to plan anyway, since all they had to do was ask Dumbledore to enchant the ceiling and contact the same businesses that had provided for everything else in previous years.

Pansy, Ginny, and Hermione became close friends, and by association, so did Harry and Blaise. Ron didn't really get the whole 'friends with a Slytherin' concept, so he didn't hang out with them all that much. He and Harry were still best friends, but when it came to spending time with Blaise and Pansy, he opted to be with Dean, Seamus, and Lavender instead. Hermione didn't feel like the fifth wheel either, because of her already established friendships with Harry and Ginny and Blaise didn't let her feel left out.

As could be expected, DADA with Tonks was a blast. It was a little strange at first, because the first time someone had called her Professor she burst out laughing. By mid-October she was still a little giggly but seemed to have gotten over the initial shock of her new title. For the second time in seven years the students seemed to be learning something. Her background as an auror made her qualified, but her young age and affection for pranks made it easier to relate to the students. Like the one day she came to class looking like Severus Snape, and then proceeded to ask Harry if he knew where the nearest Gay bar was. Or the one morning when Draco had woken up at 5 AM just to make sure he wouldn't run into Hermione, and so he was a bit sleepy when he got to the first class of the day. Just as he was starting to drift off to sleep Tonks motioned to the rest of the class to be quiet, bringing her index finger to her lips, and then proceeded to tiptoe behind Draco and then, directly in his hear, she screamed, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Draco of course, woke up with a start and screamed. Unfortunately, he didn't sound like a girl, but the small class cracked up anyway.

NEWT level DADA was kind of like a party. Draco, Pansy, Blaise were the only Slytherins in the class. Draco, because he wanted to round out his schedule and excel in every possible area, Pansy and Blaise because they thought the class was worthwhile since there neutral status would probably mean they would be targeted by death eaters soon or later. The only Ravenclaw in the class was Terry Boot. Terry was very intelligent and always kept on top of his studies. He was attractive in an oddly tidy way, his impeccable grooming evident in his pristine clothing and clear skin. The class was completely devoid of Hufflepuffs, which Tonks wasn't very happy with ((AN: I still don't want to believe Tonks was a puffer, she's too cool for them)) but she didn't exactly linger on the fact. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and surprisingly Neville, were the only Gryffs in the class, because everyone else in the house was wary about the subjects possible professor, having been subjected to some of the worst DADA professors in the history of Hogwarts. But seeing as how they were the Golden Trio, it was kind of a given that they'd have to take Defense Against the Dark Arts. For some reason they didn't quite think that they would be able to defeat old Moldyshorts by reading his palm or throwing a blast ended skrewt in his face.

And so now on October 31st, Draco and Hermione had split jobs between themselves and the prefects to finalize preparations for the Halloween dance.

"Okay Michael a little to the left. A little more. A few centimeters down. Perfect," said Hermione, who was supervising Michael Corner while he charmed some of the pumpkins to float. A few seconds later the doors to the great hall opened and there was a _woosh_ as Pansy and Ginny ran up to Hermione and began to pull her arms back the way they came.

"What are you guys doing? Let me go, there are still more preparations!"

"Let Draco take care of them!" said Pansy.

"Yeah," said Ginny, "It's time to get ready for the dance!"

"But we still have two hours until it starts!" 

"Exactly. You're already running late," said Pansy.

"Now come on, let's go!" finished Ginny. The redhead and the brunette pulled Hermione threw group of prefects who were putting up decorations. Most of the fifth and sixth years noticed Hermione, looking as if she was being kidnapped, but instead of doing something about it they just shrugged the shoulders and continued with what they were doing.

When Ginny and Pansy got Hermione back to the portrait in front of the heads suite they stopped. Hermione begrudgingly said the password. As soon as she had finished saying, "Dumb blonde," chosen in honor of Draco, the portrait swung aside and the three girls walked through the doorway.

"So what were you planning on going as?" asked Ginny, as they walked into Hermione's room.

"Well…uhh…I was kind of planning on just wearing my uniform and some cat ears?"

Pansy and Ginny shook their heads in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" they asked at the same time.

"Hermione, you are seriously one of the hottest girls in Hogwarts. I mean, if I swung that way, I'd probably make out with you-" started Ginny.

"Which is exactly why you can't wear your _uniform_ to the Halloween party! I mean come on!" finished Pansy.

"I'm so glad we came here today Pans. It's quite obvious that Hermione would be absolutely lost without us."

"You know what Ginny, you're absolutely right. Plus, we may wanna get Draco to get ready to drool if we want Operation S&M to be successful eh?" Ginny nodded, until Hermione butted in on their conversation.

"Don't I even get a say in this? I mean look at me, I'm hardly a temptress. I'm just plain Hermione Jane. I'm not sure this plan is going to work after all. Even when I do start wearing the annoyingly scandalous uniforms that you two so kindly made for me, I highly doubt he'll even look my way. I mean Draco could hardly be interested in me, he's too hot-"

Pansy and Ginny turned to each other, raising their eyebrows.

"I mean-horrific!" Hermione quickly corrected, and poorly at that.

"We'll see," said Pansy.

"We're going to make you a temptress yet,"

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Blaise was cracking up. "Draco, you…you…aren't seriously wearing that to the party are you?"

Draco stood tall in his bedroom, his white-blond hair adorned with a crown of green laurel leaves, his large and manly feet dressed in leather sandals, and that wasn't even the best part. And that was because for his Halloween costume, Draco had decided to don a crisp white…toga.

"Well I am the Slytherin sex god," said Draco, as if it should be painfully obvious. "Why not look the part?

Blaise's laughter showed no signs of ceasing. Even with the added color, Draco was still pale. And he was practically wearing a dress! For Merlin's sake. Blaise slowly regained control of himself and suppressed his laughter. "If you say so mate. See you at the party then." Blaise quiet slipped out of the bedroom, out of the common room, and into the hallway, heading to his own room for a short nap before the party.

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The feast was over and the four house tables had been removed from the great hall. Hermione, Ginny, and Pansy, as well as most of the female population of Hogwarts, had opted to keep getting ready instead of going to the feast. Where the professors once sat was now a stage, microphones and instruments were ready and waiting for a repeat performance by the Weird Sisters. The prefects had finished the decorations; the lights of the floating jack-o-lanterns flickered, illuminating the dark room to give it more of a club type feel. An hour later third and fourth years were filtering into the room and the Weird Sisters were starting their warmup. First and second years sat in their rooms, pouting because they weren't allowed to come to the party, and their 13 and 14 year olds were still under a 10 o'clock curfew and wanted to enjoy the party as much as possible. While a lot of the girls were still getting ready, all four house common rooms were playing host to the pre-parties held by the fifth, sixth, and seven year students.

Having finished help Hermione get ready, Ginny joined Harry, who was dressed as a pirate while she herself was dressed as his saucy wench. They swayed together in the Gryffindor common room, Harry with his arms around Ginny's waist while she was in an animated conversation with Parvati, who wore her regular clothing save for a sign on her shirt that was labeled 'Padma', about how disgusting it was to use human transfiguration for vanity.

In the Slytherin common room Pansy and Blaise, without costumes but still wearing their party clothes, were currently involved in yet another make out session on a sleek black leather couch while their housemates either danced or copied the amorous couple.

In the Ravenclaw common room many anxious students were relieving their stress and getting in the mood to party by finishing their ancient runes homework. Don't ask this author why studying turns them on, but apparently the idea of a good grade makes them horny.

In the Hufflepuff common room Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fentley were leading the house's bi-weekly craft project, fashioning friendship bracelets from brightly colored string and being distracted by the shiny beads that were laid out on the table before them.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, the inebriation was well under way, as it appeared that Fred and George, who despite abandoning their academic pursuits still liked to party, had snuck in some butterbeer. An hour and a half later with the aid of quite a few sobering charms, they got ready to proceed into the great hall for some more appropriate fun. Besides, they still had the after-party to carry on with their illegal activities.

The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were already at the party when the Gryffindors, Fred, and George, got there, followed shortly after by the upperclassmen of the Slytherin house. Hermione was nervous about revealing the costume that Ginny and Pansy had forced her to wear, and spent most of her time right before the party a nervous wreck. She too headed for the great hall, and the noise level in the room fell a good deal as soon as she slipped into view.

Hermione's cinnamon brown hair was in loose ringlets instead of the tighter waves her hair was usually in. On her head was a golden circlet, her eyes lined in a touch of black liner accompanied by some mascara. Colorless chapstick was the cosmetic of choice for her full lips. Golden sandals adorned her delicate feet, and a white Grecian inspired mini-dress adorned her small yet curvy frame. The dress itself was gorgeous, a lone twisted strap holding up the gauzy cotton that draped Hermione, who made it all the more beautiful. It fell several inches above the knees and was a bit low-cut for Hermione's liking, but compared to some of the trashy costumes in the room wasn't skanky in the slightest.

Bewildered by the lessened noise, Hermione stood wide-eyed only to be pulled into the crowd by Ginny and Pansy, who were dancing with their boyfriends in the same general vicinity.

"Pansy?! What did you do to her?" asked Blaise. "That dress is far too reveling for my baby sister to wear!"

"Wait—Hermione?" Harry did a double take. "That's you? Damnit Hermione you're not supposed to be a girl! You're Hermione!"

Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Thank you Harry, for that delightful comment on my asexuality. And you!" she turned towards Blaise. "I may be your baby sister but I am not a baby, the dress is erm…fine." Hermione wasn't exactly comfortable with the dress, but she didn't want to be treated as if she were a little kid.

Harry and Blaise just grumbled. Always a fast learner, Hermione quickly picked up the 'proper' method of how to dance in large groups and quickly found herself in a circle with Pansy, Ginny, and some of their closest girlfriends from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, moving her hips to the beat and making quite a fair share of boys drool.

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Blaise decided to take a break from dancing, motioning to Draco, who was dancing with some blonde-haired Hufflepuff to follow him to the refreshments.

"How's everything going so far?" he asked his best friend.

"It's ok," said Draco. "And I _am_ getting a lot of positive responses to my costume, thank you very much."

At the mention of the word costume it suddenly dawned on Blaise just how much Draco and Hermione would look like a pair, with their matching costumes. Instead of mentioning to Draco he just shrugged it off, thinking nothing of it.

All of a sudden a very mature looking brunette stepped out of the shadows and started flirting with Malfoy. Seeing all of his best friend's trademark moves, he quickly walked over and nonchalantly spoke in his ear. "She's a third year mate," said Blaise, who then turned and walked away.

Draco shuddered a bit, made his excuses, and left, following Blaise. All of a sudden a brunette in the center of the dance floor caught his eye. While Blaise kept walking towards the refreshments, he stood there, transfixed by the girl in the white dress who was swaying her hips in a manner that he found most seductive. But Draco was less than happy to see another brown-haired form step into the scene a moment later, who not only blocked his view of Hermione with his backside, but stayed there. He watched as the girl turned around, looking at the perspective dance partner, but Draco was unable to see her face as a fourth year Gryffindor walked by. By the time the obnoxious boy, who was complaining how no one would dance with him, had passed, the identity that Draco had wanted so much to be revealed was now grinding her hips seductively against the Ravenclaw whom Draco had identified as Terry Boot. His arm snaked around her waist, coming to rest on the girl's taut stomach, as his other arm took her hand in his, raising it up and moving to the beat whilst maximizing the contact between the two.

Blaise saw Draco, standing with a scowl on his face and looking into the crowd, and he wondered who was the cause this time. Unfortunately, the crowd was so dense that even when he tried to follow Draco's gaze, he still could not identify the object of his friend's affections. He just chuckled to himself and continued sipping the butterbeer that hadn't, much to his chagrin, been spiked. When he was finished, he tossed the empty cup aside and made his way back out onto the dance floor, not wanting to get caught up in one of Draco's moods.

Draco kept his eyes open for glimpses of the petite form clad in the white dress, practically ogling the little he saw. He decided he needed a better look at the girl who he had predetermined would be his next dance partner, if not his next lay.

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Ginny and Pansy were both dancing with Harry and Blaise respectively, in the same risqué manor that both girls were sure there mothers, be they dead or alive, would not have approved of. Harry and Blaise, while enjoying the contact they had from their girlfriends as the girls' hips weren't at all too close for comfort, still scowled at the site of Hermione dancing with Terry Boot. It wasn't that they had anything against Terry, but neither of them had wanted to see their sister, one of them being biologically related to her and the other who might as well have been, cavorting about with the fellow. Obviously the phrase 'double standard' held no meaning for either of them, as the two were immensely enjoying the company of their girlfriends.

"Ow ooww!" Pansy whooped, upon seeing Hermione begin to enjoy herself a little too much. Hermione flushed at the comment on her dancing, only to be laughed at by Ginny, who was finally glad to see Hermione be a bit more social with something other than a book.

"So Hermione," Terry said, raising his voice above the music and the clamor in the great hall in an attempt to be heard, "Do you want to keep dancing?"

"What?" she asked in reply, obviously not able to hear her dance partner in all the noise.

"I said," Terry repeated a little bit louder, "do you want to keep dancing?"

"Uhh sure," she replied, not having been in this situation before. Hermione was a bit uncomfortable, and the way Terry kept raising her arm was a bit weird, but she just shrugged it off and kept dancing. Besides, she needed to let lose tonight. And Terry was good-looking, and there was a sense of security with his hand on her hip, pulling her close. Hermione just ignored the nagging feeling of awkwardness and continued to gyrate her hips against his, relaxing into Terry's tall frame.

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On the other side of the dance floor, Ron and Lavender were involved in some heavy petting, only to be broken up by an irate McGonagall who was ashamed that such raunchy behavior had come from her own house.

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Draco navigated his way through the crowd, careful to keep his distance from the girl in the Grecian-inspired costume but still trying to discover who she was. At the moment, her head was turned in the other direction, as it relaxed against part of Terry's shoulder. Draco just kept staring intently, waiting for the moment in which she would turn around.

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Hermione felt someone's gaze upon her, but couldn't figure out whom. She stood a little straighter, removing her head from its resting place on Terry's shoulder, and glanced around the great hall, looking for the culprit.

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Draco, who had gotten a bit tired of just standing there waiting for the girl to turn around, had begun to dance with a sixth year from his own house who, while not a particularly phenomenal dancer, was enough of a distraction. Finally he saw the brown head of curls turn around to meet his gaze. For a second he stood motionless and stopped dancing, excited by the prospect of putting a name to the body that looked so enticing. But as he slipped back into reality, he noticed the freckles, the full lips, the button nose, and the aqua eyes of no one else but…_GRANGER?!_

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A/N: And so ends chapter 15. Sorry it took so long to get up, second semester started and Im trying to turn over a new leaf and actually study for once.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

A/N: I am sorry that this took me forever! It's my senior year, and this chapter has been a work in progress since I last updated. I hope to update slightly more regularly now, but since college applications are coming up I can't really promise anything, sorry!

**Chapter 16**

"This is very, very weird," thought Hermione. At the moment, Malfoy, whose mouth appeared to have fallen to the floor, was staring at her in a way that felt most uncomfortable. Hermione watched as a blonde bimbo in a pale pink dress that probably had more tulle than every other dress in the room combined gave a huff as she stomped away from Malfoy. Mere seconds after the huff, Malfoy snapped awake, as if he was in a trance, and walked away nonchalantly, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Huh," was the only thing that came out of Ginny's mouth. Pansy responded with an "hmm" and a glance at Ginny that said, "This is going to be easier than I thought."

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"Why?" was all Draco Malfoy asked himself. "Why? Did I just find Hermione Granger, no wait, Zabini…attractive?" He shook his head, as if to wake himself up from a very bad dream. Walking over to the punch, he angrily snatched a cup from the table and used the ladle to serve himself. "Damn, this stuff hasn't been spiked yet." He still drank it as though it were.

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After the whole being leered at by Malfoy incident Terry had put both of his hands protectively on her waist. They continued to dance the night a way, in a less than angelic manor, for the next 10 or so minutes. At this point Hermione was getting tired and Terry was neutral, remaining unchanged from his previous state. Hermione pulled away from him and led him into an area a couple decibels lower than the immense noise of the coveted spots towards the front of the dance floor.

"This has been fun," said Hermione.

"Yeah," agreed Terry.

"So umm….I think I'm going to go dance with my friends now, but I guess I'll see you in class?" she asked, a little unsure of herself.

"Yeah, sure. Hey, do you want to, go out to Hogsmeade or something with me?"

"Sure," she smiled. "Sounds great."

"Awesome. I guess I'll…see you later then." Terry turned and walked away. Still reeling from the awkwardness, Hermione slowly made her way through the crowd in an attempt to get back to her friends. On her way she saw Terry, already dancing with another seventh year from his house, but Hermione didn't really care. It's not like they were serious or anything. With a shrug and some creative dancing she got through the tangle of people to find her brother and three friends.

"There you are!" said Ginny. "Sneak out for a snog then?" Blaise and Harry glared.

"Oh god no," said Hermione. "I mean I'm sure Terry is erm-snoggable, and I'm going out with him to Hogsmeade at some point, but I didn't just recently…I mean why would you think that I…really it makes no sense and-"

"We get the picture," remarked Pansy.

Once again, Hermione felt someone come up behind her. Except this time, they didn't start dancing presumptuously.

"So Hermione-" started Fred.

"We hear," continued George.

"That your dancing style"

"Is more than a little provocative"

"And since you're looking so incredibly scrumptious tonight"

"We've decided to be the gentlemen that we are"

"And ask for a dance."

"You two do know that since you're no longer students you're not allowed at Hogwarts for any non-sporting social events, right?"

"We were hoping that our favorite head girl might overlook that teensy detail," said George.

"And Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes is 100 in support of adding 'Babe watching' to the list of Olympic sports," said Fred

Hermione chuckled. "Of course you are."

"So whaddya say, Cutie?" asked George. "Care to teach us all about the bump and grind?"

"Well since you are my favorite twins…no."

"Have it your way then," spoke the redheaded twins in unison as Fred picked Hermione up and slung her over his shoulder. "To the dance floor George!"

"Right-o brother." As they marched towards the dance floor the four friends left behind laughed at their struggling friend as she used her fists to hit Fred's back all the while seething at the people who hadn't even bothered to interfere. Once the twins got to where everyone was dancing they put Hermione down but prevented her from leaving them by obnoxiously bumping into her.

Once complete with their unknowingly Saturday Night Live inspired romp with Hermione, the twins consented to dancing like idiots and allowed Hermione to go free. Instead of leaving, however, she joined them in their foolishness and started doing the robot in a moment of spontaneity.

From across the room, Draco watched Hermione and chuckled at her antics. She was now holding her nose and waving her arms, shaking her hips as she moved down as if she was going swimming. He couldn't help but appreciate the way her hips swayed back and forth, dipping almost dangerously in between each motion. The way she was dancing, it was almost-dare he think it, adorable.

And then for once in his life, Draco had to do something he'd never done before. Work up the courage to ask Hermione to dance.

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"Oy, Draco! Whaddyo got that funny look on your face for?" asked Goyle, in between stuffing his face with pastries and pumpkin pasties.

"Nothing you dimwit," he snapped back. "Go back over there and stuff your face some more, that's what the ladies love to see." Draco turned and walked away as Goyle just shrugged and continued.

That was that. He had decided. All he had to do was go right up to Hermione, ask her to dance, and that was that. He didn't want to think of the ramifications, of the consequences, of the aftermath; all he could think of was Hermione, and how…delectable she looked in that dress.

He stalked up to her, walking closer as he pushed some of the younger students out of the way without a second thought. _You are the hunter, she is the prey. You are the hunter, she is the prey._ He treated this phrase as his new personal mantra as he got closer to her, as if he was walking in slow motion.

There she was. Even though he was somewhat blinded by the harsh blinking of the strobe lights in the club-like atmosphere, her white toga was illuminated with each flash. He reached to tap her golden shoulder, and as she turned around the room stood still. Even though music was still playing, everyone within an eight-meter radius was holding his or her breath; waiting to see what Draco would do next.

"Hermione, would you like to dance?" The words flowed from his mouth as if they were the most delightful prose, and they didn't ooze false sincerity, but rather, waxed an almost romantic politeness. In the crowd there were some audible gasps, whereas other students continued to hold their breath, almost suffocating from the lack of oxygen but still all that anxious to hear Hermione's response.

"Oh-ok."

The sharp exhales all around the room were almost louder than the music. Draco moved up closer to Hermione, moving his hands to rest firmly on her hips. Both he and Hermione shifted their weight a few times, trying to right the awkward situation they had created. While no one was staring directly at them per se, save for possibly their best friends, the entire room tried to monitor the situation while dancing in order to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

As the beat of the song picked up the platinum blonde and the brunette began to move in sync with one another. Hermione gyrated against Draco as he sought one of her hands and claimed it with his. With her free hand, Hermione reached up to grab the back of Draco's neck for support as she slid rhythmically, side to side and up and down, against his toned body. His hot breath on the back of her neck sent shivers up her spine but she couldn't bear to break away. The heat of the club and the feel of him against her back kept her in place as the bass pulsed through the room, hypnotizing the two. The rest of the world was but an afterthought, as the rhythm of the song remained constant and steady.

However, the song began to slow and the volume decreased. All of a sudden, Hermione felt the eyes of her peers focused on nothing but her. Fearing the aftermath of the 'show' that she and Draco had put on, within an instant she bolted out the door, her brown curls flying behind her. In a split second Draco ran, disappearing through the great doors as he went after his former enemy, the girl who he had, up until tonight, called his arch rival.


End file.
